A big-talking Manhattan property developer who squirreled away a treasure-trove of assets to avoid paying $15 million in debts is now crying poor to avoid being sent to prison for bankruptcy fraud, The Post has learned.
Harold Lynn – a high-flier in the 1980s who once offered a free Rolls-Royce to anyone who bought one of his luxury apartments in The Viscaya building on the Upper East Side – claims his wife and child would be left in the lurch if he’s sent to jail today.
But federal prosecutors have scoffed at Lynn’s pleas, pointing out that his family lives in a $2 million penthouse in The Viscaya at 110 E. 71st St. and spends weekends at their Hamptons retreat at Water Mill.
“To claim that there are financial concerns that would arise if Lynn is incarcerated is ludicrous,” U.S. Assistant Attorney Daniel Ruzumna wrote in a letter dated Jan. 13 to the sentencing judge, Alvin Hellerstein.
Court documents show Lynn, 66, “sold” the exclusive properties to his third wife, Christine, for $10 each before he filed for bankruptcy in 1995.
The family also owns a swanky Caribbean beachfront villa resort in Nevis, but during bankruptcy proceedings, Lynn testified that he bought the property for his wife.
His crafty maneuverings came unstuck two years ago when the U.S. attorney’s office began probing his attempts to hide his income-tax refunds from his bankruptcy trustee.
During his bankruptcy settlement testimony in January 1996, Lynn failed to mention that he and his wife had just filed three amended tax returns, resulting in refunds worth $208,910, court papers say.
He deposited the checks four days after the Bankruptcy Court approved his settlement, in which he paid $320,000 to discharge $15 million in debts.
The feds charged him with bankruptcy fraud. He pleaded guilty last July and is scheduled to be sentenced today.
With the feds arguing that he should be sentenced to at least one year, Lynn is claiming that his family will be “disadvantaged” if he’s imprisoned.