Lying under oathand lying on bankruptcy schedulesis a crime under more than one federal statute. Doing so in order to gain an unfair advantage in property is also fraud. The false statement must be material to the matter at hand, and its falsity must be known to the person who says it. The statute of limitations for fraud in bankruptcy matters used to be 5 years from the date of the fraud, or the date a reasonable person should have discovered it. I believe the limitations period was extended to 10 years for this kind of offense. Of course, you as a citizen do not bring criminal charges: they are brought in the name of the People by a prosecutor, in this case a United States Attorney. Please keep in mind that prosecutors have immense discretion as to whether or not to bring a prosecution, and at least in this federal district (Westerb Dist. of Wisconsin) they have been very reluctant to do so, expecting that the issue would be handled as a civil matter in the Bankruptcy Court. However, the time period for revoking a discharge based on fraud has long passed. If you want this pursued, you should contact the US Attorney's office in your federal district. Be prepared to explain why you waited all this time.
Answered on Apr 03rd, 2015 at 11:33 AM