Jersey City attorney admits to defrauding clients

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Last week in Newark federal court, a Jersey City attorney admitted to several charges, including defrauding his clients of more than $2 million.

U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip Sellinger announced that James Lisa, 68, pleaded guilty Sept. 15 to a superseding information charging him with one count of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identify theft, one count of obstructing the IRS, one count of failing to file an individual income tax return, and one count of wire fraud while on pretrial release.

In January, Lisa was arrested after being charged in connection with a fraud scheme.

According to prosecutors, he was retained by a family in 2014 to repatriate millions of dollars that had been transferred by other family members to offshore bank accounts decades earlier as well as to resolve tax issues related to the repatriation of the funds.

“In 2015, Lisa successfully repatriated more than $6 million of the family’s funds but proceeded to falsely advise the family that the funds remained offshore. In 2017, Lisa provided $4 million of the repatriated funds to the family but continued to falsely represent that the remaining $2 million remained beyond his control,” according to case documents and court statements released by prosecutors. “Lisa falsely told the family that he successfully resolved the tax implications of repatriating the funds. In 2016, Lisa sent the family a fraudulent IRS ‘closing agreement’ reflecting an agreement with the IRS for the family to pay $3 million in taxes and penalties for the repatriated funds. In 2018, Lisa sent the family another fraudulent closing agreement reflecting an agreement with the IRS for the family to pay $2 million in taxes and penalties because only $4 million was purportedly repatriated.”

But prosecutors say that the IRS never entered into these agreements — nor did the employees who purportedly signed the documents.

Prosecutors add that when a family member was audited by the IRS, the agency issued Lisa a summons for records related to the family’s assets, which they say Lisa produced false and fraudulent documents in response to.

A condition of Lisa’s pretrial release following the January arrest was that he did not commit another crime. But prosecutors had alleged Lisa committed wire fraud this past April when he applied for a $22,000 loan.

“In order to obtain the loan, Lisa caused the creation and submission to the lender of a fraudulent document that purported to be a letter from the attorney then representing him in his criminal prosecution,” according to the case documents and court statements. “Lisa caused the letter to be sent in order to defraud the lender about the status of the criminal prosecution so that the lender would approve the loan. Lisa also admitted that he failed to file individual income tax returns for tax years 2015 through 2022, and as a result, caused a tax loss to the IRS of at least $550,000.”

In a strongly worded statement, Sellinger said that Lisa used his law license to execute a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme and rip off clients who placed their trust in him.

“Then, after being charged for that fraud, Lisa committed another when, posing as his own lawyer, he sent a bogus letter to a lender that falsely described the status of his criminal case. Lisa’s multiple criminal acts were serious violations of his oath as an officer of the court and a betrayal of his clients’ trust,” said Sellinger.

The charges Lisa pleaded guilty to carry the following maximum penalties:

• Wire fraud – Up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross loss to the victim or gain to the defendant, whichever is greatest.
• Aggravated identity theft – Mandatory two years in prison, which must run consecutively to the any other prison term, and a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross loss to the victim or gain to the defendant, whichever is greatest.
• Obstructing the IRS –Up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
• Failure to file a tax return – Up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
• Wire fraud while on pretrial release – Up to 10 years in prison, which must run consecutively to any other prison term, and a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross loss to the victim of gain to the defendant, whichever is greatest.

Lisa is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 25, 2024.

“He will now face justice for these crimes. The people of New Jersey must be able to rely on their attorneys without having to worry that they are being defrauded,” Sellinger added. “Lisa’s guilty plea should reassure the public that our office will bring the full weight of the justice system on attorneys who violate the law.”