Landscaping business owner sentenced for bankruptcy fraud

An owner of a Lakewood, New Jersey, landscaping business has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for concealing assets in connection with his November 2008 bankruptcy petition, authorities said.

Bryan Young, 39, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Claire C. Cecchi in Newark federal court to a charge of bankruptcy fraud. Cecchi imposed his sentence Wednesday in Newark federal court, according to a statement from the U.S. District Attorney’s Office.

Young was the sole owner and operator of Brys Landscaping in Lakewood. On Nov. 5, 2008, Young, who was then a resident of Toms River, filed for individual bankruptcy protection in New Jersey, according to the statement.

In his petition, Young concealed almost $200,000 in personal assets from the U.S. Trustee, the bankruptcy case trustee and creditors. Young claimed he had $100 cash, $3,000 in a checking account, $3,700 in household goods and furnishings, $450 in clothing, a 2006 Ford F-350 valued at $8,000 and no other personal property of any kind not already listed in the petition. However, Young actually had approximately $174,865 in at least two financial accounts, approximately $13,000 in household goods and furnishings, and an additional 2003 Ford truck valued at roughly $10,000 around the time he filed the petition, according to the statement.

In addition to the prison term, Cecchi sentenced Young to two years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $197,865 in restitution to the U.S. Trustee and his bankruptcy creditors, according to the statement.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Mendelsohn of the U.S.Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit in Newark. Young is represented by Keith Hirschorn of Hoboken, according to the statement.