'Colorful' lawyer with 'massive client list' convicted of stealing $2 million, posing as his lawyer

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'Colorful' lawyer with 'massive client list' convicted of stealing $2 million, posing as his lawyer

By Debra Cassens Weiss

June 4, 2024, 9:54 a.m. CDT

A New Jersey lawyer was sentenced Thursday to 5 1/2 years in prison for stealing more than $2 million from his clients and, after being indicted, impersonating his lawyer in a letter to a bank.

James R. Lisa, 68, of Jersey City, New Jersey, was sentenced following a September 2023 guilty plea in this case, according to a May 30 press release from the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey . Lisa was disbarred by consent a month later.

The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Julien income from 2015 to 2022.

Law360, the Jersey Journal and Above the Law are among the publications covered.

The Jersey Journal described Lisa as “a colorful Jersey City lawyer who represented accused killers, violent predators and even the 'Easter Bunny of Newport,'” a man playing the Easter Bunny at a mall accused of being involved in a fight with an unhappy father. according to WABC. Lisa “was known to carry an active workload that numbered in the hundreds,” the Jersey Journal reports.

The theft occurred after a family hired Lisa to help repatriate millions of dollars that family members had placed in offshore bank accounts decades earlier. According to prosecutors, Lisa managed to obtain more than $6 million of the family's money in 2015, but falsely told the family he got nothing back. Then, in 2017, Lisa gave the family $4 million while falsely claiming the remaining $2 million was out of her control.

Lisa also falsely told the family in 2016 that he had resolved tax issues that required them to pay $3 million in taxes and penalties. Then, in 2018, he falsely told the family that he had reached an agreement with the IRS so that they would only pay $2 million in taxes and penalties because only $4 million had been repatriated .

The scheme was discovered when the IRS audited one of the family members.

While he was out on bail, Lisa posed as his attorney in a letter to a bank that misrepresented the status of the case, prosecutors said. Lisa sent the letter when she was requesting a $22,000 loan.

According to the Jersey Journal, Lisa had successfully asked the court to release him before his guilty plea “in order to clear his massive client list.” Lisa appeared in court with a new client, which landed her behind bars.

Lisa had pleaded guilty to wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, obstructing the IRS, failure to file a personal income tax return, and wire fraud while on pretrial release.