The United States Trustee filed a complaint to deny the Debtor’s discharge, alleging that, under penalty of perjury, the Debtor declared that the information contained in the petition was true and correct, when in fact, the Debtor know the petition failed to disclose a prior bankruptcy filing in the District of Maryland.  The Debtor denied filing for bankruptcy in Maryland in his response to the complaint.

Following the petition date, but prior to conversion of the case from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7, a federal grand jury indicted the Debtor and charged him with bankruptcy fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 152.  The Debtor later entered a guilty plea and judgment was entered against the Debtor in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.  The Debtor was later incarcerated as a result of this plea agreement.

The Court granted the United States Trustee’s Motion for Summary Judgment, holding that there is no dispute that the Debtor signed the plea agreement, and in signing the plea agreement, the Debtor waived his right to challenge that he committed bankruptcy fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 152.  Therefore, the Court denied the Debtor’s discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 727(a)(4)(A).