Former Real Estate Broker Sentenced to Federal Prison

A former real estate broker from Alpharetta was sentenced today to 15 months in federal prison on charges related to bankruptcy fraud.

Robert Negrelli, 65, of Alpharetta, was sentenced on March 9 by U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash to serve 15 months in federal prison on charges relating to bankruptcy fraud, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Negrelli entered a guilty plea to the charges on Aug. 19, 2010.

According to U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, Negreli filed a bankrupty petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia. At the time, he was a licensed real estate broker and owned Negrelli Realty, a real estate company in Alpharetta that specialized in the sale of high-end homes and horse farms in the area.

A news release from Yates' office said that during his bankruptcy, Negrelli claimed that his income was only $81,000 in the two-year period prior to filing bankruptcy. A review of his tax returns showed that, in 2004, he reported to the IRS that he had a gross income of approximately $210,000 and, in 2005, he reported income of approximately $350,000. When confronted, he admitted he made more income through Negrelli Realty.

Similarly, Negrelli also falsely claimed that he had listed all potential creditors in bankruptcy when he knew there were creditors with unsecured non-priority claims that he failed to disclose. According to the news release, Negrelli approached one creditor and asked that the creditor not assert a claim, saying he would pay whatever he owed after the resolution of the bankruptcy case. He threatened that, if the creditor filed a claim in bankruptcy and testified against him, he would not pay him at all. His manipulation of the bankruptcy process caused a number of his debts to be improperly discharged.

Yates said, “His false statements undermined the integrity of the process and unfortunately resulted in significant losses to his creditors.”