Ed Hardy boss's bankruptcy boo boo

Gary Berman with Tara Reid.
Photo: Cameron Laird

BAD fashion transcends borders, which is why SiN can report on the bankrupting of one-time Melbourne clothing entrepreneur Gary Michael Berman.

Berman is the man who brought the Ed Hardy clothing brand to Australia. 

While this was not a crime, Federal Magistrate Daniel O’Dwyer recently pointed out that making an incorrect entry in a debtor's petition potentially is. 

“The details provided in a Debtor’s Petition are required to be accurate,” and “.…. should the requisite declaration that the details are correct made in support of the application prove to be false there is the potential of a criminal sanction of imprisonment for 12 months,” O”Dwyer wrote in his December 15, 2011 judgement.

O'Dwyer was commenting on the response Berman made to question 33 of his debtor's petition, which the former Ernst & Young accountant filed on May 17, 2011, almost 12 months after his stable of Ed Hardy outlets closed its doors. Question 33 requires a debtor to list transfers of assets and gifts made in the preceding five years.