One who has taken the benefit of an act of insolvency, to defraud his creditors, is said to have been whitewashed.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
Whitechapel * WhitfieliteNathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes