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The family had retained James R. Lisa, 68, of Jersey City, to gather millions that had been moved into offshore bank accounts by relatives decades ago and to resolve any tax issues that arose as a result, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Soon after being retained, Lisa moved more than $6 million back into the United States but told the family that the funds still remained offshore, the U.S. attorney said.
Lisa kept them waiting for two years before giving them $4 million while claiming the remaining $2 million was "beyond his control," Sellinger said.
He also lied when he told the family he'd resolved the tax issue -- and even produced a bogus signed document purportedly from the IRS, the U.S. attorney said.
It contended that they owed $3 million in taxes and penalties on the money, he said.
Lisa ginned up a second phony agreement in which the IRS purportedly reduced the tax hit, including penalties, to $2 million because only $4 million supposedly had been repatriated, Sellinger said.
"In fact, the IRS never entered into these agreements and the IRS employees who purportedly signed the documents never did so," the U.S. attorney said.
Everything came to light after the IRS audited a member of the family and Lisa ended up supplying bogus documents, Sellinger said.
Nicknamed "King James," Lisa was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1984 and specialized in defending white-collar criminals.
Federal agents arrested him in January 2023 after he was indicted on three counts of wire fraud and four counts of aggravated identity theft.
A federal judge in Newark granted pre-trial release with conditions, including that Lisa not commit another crime.
Three months later, Sellinger said, Lisa submitted a bogus letter -- purportedly from his criminal attorney -- in an application for a $22,000 loan.
At this point, Lisa took a deal from the government rather than risk the possible outcome of a trial, pleading guilty last September to several counts stemming from both arrests.
He 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.
Lisa must serve 85% of his 66-month sentence -- 4½ years -- before he'll be eligible for release because there's no parole in the federal prison system.
U.S. District Court Judge Julien X. Neals also sentenced Lisa on Thursday, May 30, in Newark to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $2.05 million in restitution to his fraud victims and $550,000 to the IRS as part of the plea agreement
Sellinger credited special agents with the Office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration's Mid Atlantic Field Division and IRS - Criminal Investigation's Newark Field Office with the investigation leading to the plea and sentence, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Bender of his Camden office.
“James Lisa used his law license to execute a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme and rip off clients who placed their trust in him,” the U.S. attorney said. “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," Sellinger said Thursday. "The sentence imposed today is his just punishment for these crimes.”
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