JERSEY CITY, NJ – A New Jersey attorney is alleged to have defrauded a family out of approximately $2,000,000 when he was retained to repatriate money the family had saved in an offshore account.
A complaint charges James R. Lisa, 67, with three counts of wire fraud and four counts of aggravated identity theft. He was arraigned today by videoconference before U.S. Magistrate Judge José R. Almonte and pleaded not guilty.
According to the allegations made by the Justice Department, Lisa was retained by a family in 2014 to assist with the repatriation of millions of dollars that had been transferred to offshore bank accounts decades earlier by family members. Furthermore, Lisa was retained to assist with the resolution of tax issues related to the funds’ repatriation. The family’s funds were repatriated by Lisa in 2015, but Lisa misinformed the family that the funds remained offshore. In 2017, Lisa provided the family with $4 million of the repatriated funds, but continued to falsely represent that the remaining $2 million was beyond his control.
A false statement was made by Lisa that he had successfully resolved the tax implications of repatriating the funds to the family. 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. Lisa sent the family another fraudulent closing agreement in 2018, indicating that the IRS agreed that only $4 million had been purportedly repatriated, resulting in a $2 million tax and penalty payment. As a matter of fact, the IRS has never signed these agreements, nor have any IRS employees purportedly signed them.
Each count of wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine not to exceed $250,000. Each count of aggravated identity theft carries a statutory mandatory penalty of two years in prison, which must run consecutively to any other term of imprisonment, and a fine not to exceed $250,000.