Toni Braxton is officially bankrupt and has been accused of fraudulently transferring money to her estranged husband, Keri Lewis, to avoid paying back creditors.
It was back in 2010 that Toni filed for bankruptcy after accumulating somewhere between $10 million and $50 million in debt.
A list released by TMZ revealed that the singer/songwriter may not have been as responsible with her money as she could have been.
Her list of debtors includes several major companies such as AT&T and the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, but other debtors show that the 45-year-old may have been spending many where she didn’t need to.
The Four Seasons Hotel, Neiman Marcus, and Tiffany & Co. also topped the list of people that Braxton owes money to.
To make matters worse, the “Make My Heart” crooner allegedly tried to find a way to cheat the system and avoid paying back some of the creditors when she had the funds necessary.
According to TMZ, bankrupt Toni Braxton tried to transfer a large amount of money over to her husband – from whom she is currently separated – but the money was already earmarked to pay back the creditors.
“Toni Braxton fraudulently transferred $53,490 to her estranged husband in order to avoid paying back creditors in her bankruptcy case – so says the trustee of Toni’s bankruptcy estate,” TMZ reported.
Despite the suspicion of the large transfer during her bankruptcy case, the reality star’s rep claims that there was nothing fraudulent about the transaction.
“All of the payments made to Lewis prior to Toni’s bankruptcy filing were appropriate transfers for reasonable and necessary personal and business expenses in the ordinary course of her business,” the rep insisted.
Needless to say, the many creditors who are waiting on Braxton to pay them back aren’t buying the story.
Only time will tell what the courts decide in the bankrupt Braxton’s case, but she has since agreed to provide whatever information the trustee needs in order to prove her innocence.
The “Un-Break My Heart” songstress joins an unfortunate list of legendary musicians who found great success in their craft but ultimately had to file for bankruptcy, in Braxton’s case it truly began with her initial contract with Arista/LaFace that left her with only $2k in royalties after selling nearly 20 million records. Others on the list include Billy Joel, Chaka Khan, George Clinton, Isaac Hayes, LaToya Jackson, and Marvin Gaye.
