New York Lawyer Pleads Guilty to Ponzi Scheme, Money Laundering

A New York lawyer admitted Monday to money laundering and orchestrating an $18.8 million Ponzi scheme using his Forest Hills-based law firms, Wisnicki & Associates LLP and Wisnicki Neuhauser LLP.

Robert Wisnicki, who was indicted along with seven others in January 2022, pleaded guilty in the US District Court for Southern District of New York to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

On the first count, Wisnicki admitted that he used his law firms to launder money generated by a criminal conspiracy to defraud insurers—and then lied to both prosecutors and the grand jury about it.

The fraud involved a network of medical, acupuncture, and chiropractic practices—the “Gulkarov Conspiracy,” as prosecutors called it—that routinely submitted false claims to automobile insurance companies.

Wisnicki agreed to launder the profits from the scheme by depositing checks from the from the clinics into one of his firm trust accounts, and then arranging to use the funds to buy real estate for the organization’s leaders.

When served with a grand jury subpoena related to the insurance fraud, he agreed to re-launder the money by “returning” client money purportedly paid to his firm, according to the plea. He also falsified retainer agreements, claiming the checks he’d received from the clinics were fees.

The second count relates to Wisnicki’s real estate investment business.

Wisnicki started his real estate investment business in approximately 2007, identifying investment opportunities for existing clients. When the losses mounted, instead of telling his clients, he covered the losses, using both new investor funds and client money held in his firms’ IOLTA accounts, according to the plea.

The agreement provides for a stipulated guidelines range of 63 to 78 months’ imprisonment, but the court isn’t bound by the deal and could deviate at his Jan. 12, 2024, sentencing.

Wisnicki agreed to forfeit $19 million—around $200,000 for property involved in the money laundering conspiracy and $18,800,000 in proceeds from the fraud, according to the plea.

His victims include his own family members, whom he collectively owes around $6.3 million, according to the statement of facts accompanying the deal.

One of Winsinki’s seven codefendants, Marcelo Quiroga, pleaded guilty in April. The other seven co-defendants pleaded not guilty.

The case is before Judge Paul G. Gardephe.

Wisnicki is represented by Mukasey Frenchman LLP.

The case is United States v. Gulkarov, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:22-cr-00020, plea agreement 9/18/23.