Longest EDCA Bankruptcy Fraud Sentence Ever?

[Gold River businessman Steven K.] Zinnel was an investor in a Carmichael-based electrical infrastructure company and in real estate. By the time he filed a voluntary bankruptcy petition on July 20, 2005, Zinnel had concealed millions of dollars in assets by putting them in other people’s names.

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In sentencing the 50-year-old Zinnel Tuesday to 17 years and eight months in prison, imposing a $500,000 fine, and ordering him to forfeit to the United States real estate and corporate assets worth more than $2.8 million, U.S. District Judge Troy L. Nunley had some harsh words.

Describing Zinnel as “narcissistic,” Nunley cited the repeated deception of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the court’s trustee, and state family court as evidence of Zinnel’s culpability in the complex fraud and money laundering scheme.

“You don’t lie before a court of law,” Nunley told him. “You don’t continue to lie, which is what you did.”

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Prosecutors believe it is the longest prison term for bankruptcy fraud ever meted out in the federal courts that make up the Sacramento-based Eastern District of California.

Sacramento Bee, 3/4/14