By Milton Allimadi
Photos: Milton Allimadi\Wikimedia Commons
Manhattan businessman Jose Sandy Buco has filed an emergency order before the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan to block what he calls an “unlawful” scheduled July 23, 2025 sale of his property, pending his appeal in the U.S. District Court.
Additionally, on July 18, 2025 Mr. Buco filed a notice of pendency of his federal appeal in State Supreme Court, also in Manhattan, to preserve the record and to place the court on notice; he has two other properties that he claims “debt buyers” are trying to wrongfully foreclose.
The order to show cause filed earlier, on July 17, 2025 asks for a temporary restraining order and injunction to block the auction of his property “pending the resolution of a federal appeal now pending” before the Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York.
Mr. Buco’s motion also asks the court to block Clark Whitsett, the referee, and attorneys for what Mr. Buco calls “debt buyers” from “conducting or publishing any foreclosure sale or deed transfer while federal jurisdiction over the subject matter is active.”
“If this sale proceeds, it would enforce a judgment that is currently under federal review. This risks irreparable harm, violates due process, and creates conflict between state and federal courts,” Mr. Buco’s motion states.
As previously reported by Black Star News, Mr. Buco alleged Judge Philip Bentley, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, wrongfully dismissed his case one month before the scheduled Oct. 17, 2024 court date for him to present evidence to support his claim that he is the victim of unlawful foreclosures on his three properties by “debt buyers” involving the use of “false, fraudulent, and forged” proofs of claim (POCs).
The POC is fundamental and needed to prove that the entity is the rightful holder of the original promissory note and mortgage. “That is how the rightful holder proves in a federal court they have the legal right to take the collateral put up for that mortgage,” Mr. Buco said.
The original hearing date Judge Bentley set for Mr. Buco to challenge the proofs of claim was Sept. 12, 2024, but the judge rescheduled the hearing to Oct. 17, 2024. Then on Sept. 16, 2024 before the new hearing date, Judge Bentley dismissed Mr. Buco’s claim. The judge claimed his debt—based on the POCs filed against his properties—was about $6.4 million, while the debt ceiling for chapter 13 bankruptcy protection was $2.75 million.
“A creditor needs to prove it is the lawful owner of the promissory note and mortgage and also prove the monies owed,” Mr. Buco said. “So how can a judge say my debt was $6.4 million, because that is what the proofs of claim said? Has this judge never heard of people filing false proofs of claim? I thought the reason why bankruptcy courts exist was to adjudicate these matters.”
“Why did Judge Bentley set a court date of September 12, then change it to October 17, 2024 to allow me to challenge the proofs of claim if he had already made up his mind, wrongfully and arbitrarily, before holding a trial?” Mr. Buco added.
The court transcript also shows that Judge Bentley claimed Mr. Buco had not challenged the proofs of claim. “Each of these proofs of claim attaches documents that show the balance, the amount of the debt, and show that it was incurred prepetition,” Judge Bentley said, according to the court transcript of the Sept. 16, 2024 hearing. “The debtor has not objected to those proofs of claim and therefore, they’re deemed valid.”
“This is very bizarre, shocking, and false,” Mr. Buco said. “My opposition to the proofs of claim are on the court’s docket, and that is the reason why Judge Bentley set October 17 for me to have my day in court and show how the proofs of claim against my three properties are false, fraudulent, and forged,” Mr. Buco said.
Filing a fraudulent proof of claim is punishable by a $50,000 fine, or five years imprisonment, or both.
Mr. Buco had also asked for the hearings to be separated because the court had planned to hear eight issues in one day. He was up against several attorneys in complex hearings, he said. Judge Bentley denied Mr. Buco’s request. “In the end the judge torpedoed my constitutionally guaranteed right to have my day in court by wrongfully dismissing my bankruptcy case,” Mr. Buco said.
Judge Bentley did not respond to an e-mail message from Black Star News yesterday, and on June 23, 2025 asking why he dismissed Mr. Buco’s case prior to the Oct. 17 court date when he was scheduled to challenge the proofs of claim, and why he claimed Mr. Buco never objected to the POCs.
The e-mail message yesterday was also copied to Chief Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn, the U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel.
Black Star News has covered several cases over the last few years of alleged transgressions by judges and lawyers in the U.S. Bankruptcy court. In one ongoing case, a judge in the Eastern District of New York—Judge Jil Mazer-Marino—has allowed a lawyer to file a forged retainer agreement that remains on the court’s docket even after the matter was brought to the judge’s attention and to the U.S. Department of Justice on numerous occasions.
After Judge Bentley dismissed Mr. Buco’s case, he filed a motion for reconsideration on Oct. 15, 2024, which the judge denied on Nov. 8, 2024. Mr. Buco filed a motion asking the court to vacate the dismissal of his bankruptcy case and the discharge of the trustee, which Judge Bentley also denied on July 15, 2025.
Mr. Buco said all he wants is his day in court.
“This just doesn’t make any sense,” Mr. Buco said. “I filed challenges to the proofs of claim. Judge Bentley scheduled a hearing for September 12, then shifted the goal posts to October 17, 2024 for me to provide the evidence to show why the proofs of claim by the debt buyers are invalid. Then, before October 17, he blew the final whistle and said ‘game over.’”
Editor’s note: This is part-two of a series. Read part one here. For tips about alleged wrongful foreclosure cases reach this writer via [email protected]
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