Radio Minister & TV Lawyer Charged
in Bankruptcy Steering

According to Cam Simpson's article in the Chicago Tribune, federal prosecutors have charged the host of a religious radio program with using the business segment of his program to steer listeners to a leading bankruptcy attorney in Chicago. According to the prosecutors, "Christopher A. Claxton received more than $1 million for sending listeners to Erig A. Martin, one of Chicago's most prolific bankruptcy attorneys." Martin was one of the top three bankruptcy attorneys in the Chicago area in terms of the number of his filings. The 15-count federal indictment also charges that Claxton failed to report up to $32,000 per month of that income when he filed for bankruptcy last year. Martin "faces eight counts of bankruptcy fraud, one count of conspiracy, and two counts of making false statements." Martin's television show often showed a steamroller trying to run over "shrieking debtors."

Prosecutors charge that Claxon referred listeners to his own debt-consolidation firm. They found that he used his talk show to send more than 900 listeners to Martin during 1995 and 1996; In return, prosecutors allege that Martin gave kickbacks to Claxon or his debt-consolation firm. Those kickbacks were not reported to the bankruptcy judges hearing the cases. Prosecutors argue that, had these kickbacks to Claxton been reported at the hearings, the judge would have set the fees "substantially lower."