A national law firm’s former chief financial officer was sentenced to five years in New Jersey state prison for defrauding his roughly 200-attorney group of more than $1.5 million in excess compensation and personal credit card charges.
John Dunlea, who pleaded guilty to theft and failure to pay taxes charges, was sentenced Friday and ordered to repay his firm McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP—a business with offices stretching from New Jersey to Colorado.
From 2017 to 2022, Dunlea used his position in the firm to overpay himself with company cash and categorize more than $350,000 in personal expenses as “business expenses,” according to his plea deal with state prosecutors. The court also ordered him to pay state tax officials over $22,000.
“The defendant admitted to giving himself a staggering, unauthorized and illegal seven-figure pay raise, and treating himself and his family, at his employers expense, to travel, hotels, and means,” Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin (D) said in a statement.
Dunlea’s attorney, Ricardo Solano Jr. of Gibbons P.C., didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case is New Jersey v. John Dunlea, N.J. Super. Ct. Law Div., No. MRS-24-000225, 7/26/24.
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