Tennis great Becker convicted of hiding assets in bankruptcy

BVWireIssue #235-2
April 13, 2022

bankruptcy
bankruptcy, solvency, fraudulent transfer, insolvency

In London, ex-tennis star Boris Becker has been found guilty of four charges under the UK’s Insolvency Act relating to his 2017 bankruptcy, the BBC reports. He was found guilty of transferring hundreds of thousands of pounds from his business account after his bankruptcy, failing to declare a property in Germany, and concealing €825,000 of debt. He could face a jail sentence carrying a maximum term of seven years for each count.

Coincidentally, BVR recently did a webinar on fraudulent transfers in a bankruptcy context. Jeff Baliban, a practitioner who currently teaches statistics at New York University’s School of Professional Studies, explained that the key issue in matters of fraudulent transfers is solvency—whether the debtor was solvent when it made the transfer (or would remain solvent as a result of the transfer). Baliban described the three solvency tests (under Section 548 of the Bankruptcy Code): (1) the balance sheet test (do assets exceed liabilities?); (2) the cash flow test (can the company pay off debts as they come due?); and (3) the capital adequacy test (does the company have enough capital to operate?). If the debtor fails any one of the tests, it is an indication of a fraudulent transfer.

Please let us know if you have any comments about this article or enhancements you would like to see.