Case of the missing dough: Bankrupt bakery owner convicted of fraud for sending $21,000 to sister in Greece

The former owner of the Bakery Boys Bakery has been convicted of fraud in the Magistrates Court after transferring $21,998 from the sale of the business to his sister in Greece after the date of his bankruptcy.

Konstantinos Grapsas was declared bankrupt on August 14, 2008 but after that date he transferred the cash from the sale of the Baker Boys Bakery to his sister.

His bankruptcy trustee was informed of the sale of the business after the money had been transferred.

Magistrate Crowe of the Ringwood Magistrates Court in Victoria convicted Grapsas of three offences in relation to the disposal of property with intent to defraud creditors, failure to disclose information to his trustee and failure to maintain books and records during bankruptcy.

Grapsas was discharged from his bankruptcy on September 20, 2011 and then convicted of the bankruptcy offences on December 19, 2012.

Magistrate Crowe described the offending as serious and fined Grapsas $2,500 and ordered him to pay costs of $967.

SmartCompany was unable to contact Grapsas for comment.

Adam Toma, national manager of regulation and enforcement at Insolvency and Trustee Service Victoria, said in a statement that bankrupts such as Grapsas could not defraud creditors.

“Bankrupts must comply with directions of their trustee during the administration of their estate and must not dispose of any property with intent to defraud their creditors,” he said.