Jan 21, 2021

KC payday lender pleads guilty to bankruptcy fraud

Posted Jan 21, 2021 4:00 PM

KANSAS CITY (AP) β€” The co-owner of a one-time Kansas City payday lending company has pleaded guilty to a bankruptcy fraud count related to his 2015 personal bankruptcy, in which prosecutors say he hid more than $1 million in assets.

Del Kimball, 53, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court and faces up to five years in prison when he’s sentenced on June 2. Kimball will remain free on bond until his sentencing.

Prosecutors said Kimball and the payday loan company he co-owned, LTS Management, were forced into bankruptcy by creditors who said they were owed millions. Two years later, a bankruptcy trustee accused Kimball of concealing assets, bank accounts and income from his bankruptcy disclosures. Those included the sale of a warehouse for nearly $1 million, the sale of three cars for more than $120,000, eight wristwatches worth more than $29,000 and a painting by Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.

Kimball was charged with failing to disclose the transfer of money to a relative and the existence of a company he owned that was formed to conceal income from creditors.