Date: August 23, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Providence, RI — Rhode Island personal injury attorney Peter P.D. Leach on Tuesday admitted to a federal judge that he conducted a Ponzi scheme to defraud clients by misappropriating over $500,000 in client settlement funds; he also admitted that he took evasive steps to conceal his ill-gotten gains from the IRS while failing to pay more than $250,000 in taxes, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha. In pleading guilty to charges of wire fraud and tax evasion, Leach admitted that he forged client signatures and deposited client settlement checks into his attorney IOLTA account, using those funds to pay personal expenses and to repay earlier clients whose funds he had embezzled. To prolong his scheme, Leach repeatedly made false representations to clients about the status of their cases, and told them that he would pay their medical expenses and other bills with settlement funds he had received. An investigation by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and Rhode Island State Police Financial Crimes Unit `determined that Leach's criminal activity resulted in losses to clients of more than $250,000. Leach also admitted that from 2014-2019, he took multiple steps to conceal his gains from the IRS, including by making false statements on IRS forms regarding his assets; making false statements to IRS Revenue officers about his ability and willingness to pay his taxes and about his withdrawal of over $540,000 of cash from his IOLTA accounts for payment of personal expenses; and by transferring money from his client account to the account of family members to make personal payments. The investigation determined that Leach failed to pay more than $250,000 in taxes. Leach is scheduled to be sentenced on January 4, 2024. The defendant's sentences will be determined by a federal judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sandra R. Hebert and Denise Barton.
