CA1: MVRA trumps bankruptcy

US v. Hyde, No. 05-2897.  Guess what?  “A restitution order under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act, codified in relevant part at 18 U.S.C. § 3613 ("MVRA"), allows the government to garnish the sale proceeds of a house that the debtor had attempted to exempt from the reach of creditors in a Chapter 7 federal bankruptcy proceeding.”  Basically the guy fraudulently received payments from his mother's pension fund, the fund sued him, he filed a bankruptcy petition, he was indicted.  After he was sentenced (and the bankruptcy court granted him a discharge) he sold the house he bought with the funds.  The pension moved in state court to stop it.  The US moved in federal court for the funds. 

Anyway, the “victims” (i.e. a pension and the government) will get their money.  Huzzah!