Finances
NY Lawyer Adjustments Plea in Ponzi, Auto Insurance coverage Fraud Scheme
A disbarred New York legal professional has modified his plea to responsible in reference to an $19 million Ponzi scheme and a $30 million auto insurance coverage fraud.
Robert Wisnicki, 44, of Forest Hills, pleaded to responsible to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and cash laundering, each of which may end in a sentence of 5 years in jail. He was considered one of 13 individuals, together with medical doctors and a police officer, charged in 2022 within the long-running fraud scheme.
Wisnicki additionally agreed to forfeit property and pay restitution of $18.8 million.
“As he has now admitted, Robert Wisnicki dedicated a wide selection of prison acts as a part of a number of schemes designed to line his personal pockets and canopy his tracks,” U.S. Lawyer Damian Williams stated in an announcement Monday. “As a training legal professional, Wisnicki knew higher, however he flouted the regulation anyway, even going as far as to impede justice and commit perjury whereas testifying earlier than a grand jury.”
Wisnicki pleaded not responsible in 2022 however modified his plea this week. The unique indictment can be seen here.
The Wisnicki regulation agency specialised in actual property transactional work, prosecutors stated. In 2007, a few of his purchasers requested him to determine funding alternatives. However the true property investments didn’t repay and, as a substitute of alerting purchasers, Wisnicki and others used funds from his different purchasers and from new traders to cowl the losses, a traditional Ponzi scheme, authorities stated.
Wisnicki additionally laundered cash for a company that utilized no-fault auto insurance coverage legal guidelines, prosecutors stated. New Jersey and New York require auto insurers to pay some claims to medical suppliers, with out assigning fault to any get together. A separate indictment accused a person named Alexander Gulkarov, also called “Little Alex,” of fraudulently proudly owning and controlling greater than a dozen medical skilled organizations. The scheme allegedly took $30 million from insurers since 2014.
Expenses are nonetheless pending towards a number of different defendants. Sentencing for Wisnicki is about for Jan. 12, 2024.
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