Businessman From Palm Beach Florida Sentenced For Bankruptcy Fraud

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge of the Miami Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Charles E. Hunter, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Miami Field Office, announced today's sentencing of defendant W. Lawrence LeNeve, a/k/a William Lawrence LeNeve and Larry LeNeve, 65, of Palm Beach, Florida, to a statutory maximum of five years imprisonment following his December 2006 guilty plea to one count of bankruptcy fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 152(1).

As the Court found at sentencing, LeNeve concealed and diverted over $377,000 from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy estate of Indiantown Realty Partners II, Limited Partnership, Case No. 01-34804-BKC-PGH, filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Florida. Previously, during the Indiantown Realty Partners II bankruptcy, LeNeve had been held in contempt and imprisoned for various activities including those related to his diversion of the $377,000. Further, according to bankruptcy records, in addition to the Indiantown II case, LeNeve was associated with the following bankruptcies: Indiantown Realty Partners, Ltd., Case No. 01-32458-BKC-PGH; WLN Family Ltd. Partnership, Case No. 02-31098-BKC-PGH; Laura Andre, Inc., Case No. 02-32068-BKC-PGH; William Lawrence LeNeve, Case No. 03-36439-BKC-PGH; and Trekar Land Holdings, Case No. 05-31088-BKC-SHF.

In addition to a term of imprisonment, LeNeve was ordered to pay restitution of $,145,648 to the bankruptcy estate of Indiantown Realty Partners II and to a term of three years of supervised release. As conditions of supervised release, LeNeve was also ordered, among other things, to cooperate fully with the Internal Revenue Service, and, upon request of the appropriate regulatory agency, to relinquish any professional licenses, such relinquishment to be considered permanent and a disciplinary action.The maximum statutory sentence for the bankruptcy fraud count is five (5) years' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service. Mr. Acosta also thanked the Office of the United States Trustee for its assistance in the case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Carolyn Bell.