In an indictment released March 13, 2024, a grand jury in U.S. District Court for Western Wisconsin charged Bernard C. Seidling, 73, of Hayward and Florida with bankruptcy fraud.
According to the indictment, Seidling “knowingly and fraudulently made material false declarations, certificates or verifications under penalty of perjury in relation to a case by submitting schedules of assets and liabilities and a statement of financial affairs in which the defendant:
“Falsely declared that he did not own or have any legal or equitable interest in any residence, building, land or similar property;
“Falsely declared that he did have any interest in any partnerships;
“Fasely declared that he and no interest in any retirement or pension account”
“Falsely declared that he had no interest in any trust;
“Falsely declared that had no legal or equitable interest in any business-related property;
“Falsely declared that he had deposits in only one bank account with a balance of $195;
“Falsely declared that he had not sold or transferred property to anyone in the two years prior to bankruptcy,.”
The indictment further states that from Dec. 19, 2022 to April 15, 2023, Seidling “devised a scheme and artifice for the purpose of executing such scheme and attempting to do so made false and fraudulent representations, claims and promises concerning or in relation to a proceeding.
“Specifically, defendant devised a scheme o defraud the bankruptcy trustee and the bankruptcy court by making false statements about his ability to participate in bankruptcy proceedings, in an effort to stall the proceedings and continue the automatic stay.
“To execute the scheme, defendant filed pro se (by himself, without an attorney) documents in bankruptcy court in a related federal court proceedings containing false statements that he was unable to meaningfully participate in bankruptcy proceedings because of his physical and mental health. These statements were designed to defraud the bankruptcy court into staying the bankruptcy proceedings, which allowed the defendant to continue to benefit fro the automatic stay.
“The false statements were also designed to impede, obstruct and delay the bankruptcy trustee’s lawful efforts to obtain information about the defendant’s assets.”
Seidling also has even been bound over for trial in two pending felony cases in Washburn County Circuit Court. One complaint charges him with four counts of false swearing-government inconsistencies and four counts of bail jumping on Aug. 15, 2023.
The other complaint charges Seidling with 32 felony counts of fraudulent writings-forgery from Jan. 1, 2016, through Oct. 1, 2022.
The criminal complaint states that Seidling entered into more than 20 contracts with individuals, purporting to sell them land in Washburn County. Multiple victims allegedly responded to property listings from Seidling on Craigslist, according to the criminal complaint.
Seidling allegedly used deceptive practices in the contracts such as operating under a pseudonym, disguising his identity through the use of trusts, pressuring individuals to sign contracts they did not understand, and lying about the contents of the contracts.
A three-week jury trial has been scheduled for January, 2025.
On Dec. 26, 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin found Seidling guilty of 50 counts of mail fraud.
In May 2013, Seidling was sentenced to three years in federal prison without parole and fined $10,000 by Judge Barbara Crabb in U.S. District Court in Madison. The indictment stated that from 2003 through 2009, Seidling engaged in a fraud scheme in which he used the Wisconsin small claims court system to obtain small claims judgments against individuals and corporations based on false representations in lawsuits he filed.
In sentencing Seidling, Judge Crabb stated that the three-year sentence was warranted because Seidling had created so much trouble for so many people, with an enormous amount of vindictiveness. She believed that the judgments he obtained were ticking time bombs set to go off when an unwitting victim sold a house, changed jobs, etc. Judge Crabb also stated that the offenses were not an aberration, but, in her view, reflect a way of life Seidling has chosen.
Seidling filed suits in Wisconsin small claims courts against individuals and corporations in which he lied about their addresses and attempts to serve them. He submitted false documents to convince the small claims courts that he had process servers attempt to serve the defendants when, in fact, those attempts either had not been made, or, as Seidling knew, would be unsuccessful because he knew the defendants did not live at the addresses he had provided. In each of these lawsuits Seidling, usually claimed the maximum allowed of $5,000 (as of the time in the indictment), and he hid filings of the lawsuits from the victims of his scheme (the defendants in the lawsuits) and then obtained default judgments. Once he obtained these fraudulent default judgments, he filed them in the county where the victims actually lived or owned property and also used them to attempt to file wage garnishments against the victims and the victims’ property.
U.S. Attorney John Vaudreuil stated that “Seidling earned this sentence with years of lies and fraud. He intended to cause a loss to the victims of over $370,000—the total amount of the false judgments he obtained. Seidling remains a con man with no insight into his behavior.”
Vaudreuil also stated that this successful prosecution is the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the United States Postal Inspection Service; the Sheriffs’ Departments of Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Chippewa, Dane, Douglas, Dunn, Eau Claire, Iron, Jackson, Pierce, Polk, Sawyer, and Washburn Counties; and the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation.
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