Man nets jail time for bankruptcy fraud

A federal judge sentenced a 68-year-old Kalihi man on Monday to six months in jail for lying in his bankruptcy declarations to hide a $141,203 annuity.

U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright also ordered Gil Constantino to pay $31,203 in restitution.

Constantino also faces deportation to his native Philippines.

He pleaded guilty to hiding the annuity from his lawyer and the bankruptcy court when he filed for bankruptcy in January 2011. On the same day he submitted his filing, he cashed out the annuity and later gave $110,000 to his wife to buy another annuity.

Prosecutor Michael Nammar said Constantino spent the rest of the money on plane tickets for his family and on jewelry rather than to pay the first or second mortgages on his home. He said the bankruptcy trustee discovered what Constantino did while reviewing suspicious financial activity reports.