Colts Neck Man Charged With Bankruptcy Fraud

COLTS NECK, NJ - A Monmouth County man is facing federal charges after allegedly filing a fraudulent bankruptcy petition claiming he had hundreds of millions of dollars in liabilities when, instead, he had $2.9 million stowed in a hidden bank account, prosecutors said.

Elia Zois, 56, of Colts Neck, is charged by complaint with one count of concealment in bankruptcy. The resident is one of five partners of a New Jersey-based health care organization that maintained about 50 senior living facilities in New Jersey, Michigan and Wisconsin.

On Feb. 6, 2019, Zois and his spouse filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, alleging that between 2014 and 2018 he had only $9,000 in assets and $201 million in liabilities based upon his partnership in the business.

However, a forensic accounting report concluded that Zois received $2.9 million in deposits into a bank account owned by Zois during that period, including approximately $200,000 in undeclared income after he filed for bankruptcy. The hidden account was intended to conceal a portion of his income to “circumvent existing IRS liens on his known assets,” prosecutors said.

The count of concealment in a bankruptcy carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.