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| Barbara Lieberman |
A New Jersey elder law attorney who was arrested in March and charged with stealing millions from clients, targeting those with substantial assets and no immediate family, has pleaded guilty to one first-degree count of money laundering. Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Barbara Lieberman, 62, be sentenced to 10 years in state prison, of which she will have to serve at least three and a half years.
In addition, Lieberman will surrender her law license and forfeit a BMW and $3 million that the state seized from her, which will be used to pay restitution to her victims.
Charges are pending against the owner of an in-home senior care company and two other alleged co-conspirators.
Lieberman, described by law enforcement officials as “a leading specialist in elder law in Atlantic County,” allegedly teamed with Jan Van Holt, 57, the owner of a company that offered seniors “custom designed life care and legal financial planning.” Between 2006 and 2013 the pair allegedly took control of their victims’ finances by forging a power of attorney or obtaining one under false pretenses. They would then allegedly add their names to the victims’ bank accounts or transfer the victims’ funds into new accounts they controlled.
Thereafter, according to the charges, the women siphoned off money for their own uses, although a portion of the money was used to fund the victim’s continued expenses, allegedly to keep the victim unaware of the thefts. The thefts continued after the victims died, with Lieberman becoming executrix of the wills of some of her clients and milking their estates.
Prosecutors charged that Lieberman stole $320,000 from a woman in her 90s whom she met at a seminar for senior citizens, and more than $600,000 from another client in her 90s, using half of it to pay off her credit card bills. “Some of her victims were forced into nursing facilities by these thefts because they no longer could afford to live in their homes,” said Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman.
Her attorney Steven Feldman said that Lieberman had difficulty extricating herself once the scheme got underway.
"She's actually an excellent attorney," he said. "She had an error in judgment."
Lieberman is scheduled to be sentenced on February 3, 2015.
Read detailed accounts of the charges and plea deal in the New Jersey Law Journal and The Mainland Currant.com
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