Former Rhode Island personal injury attorney Peter P.D. Leach has been sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison. He is required to repay clients he defrauded through a Ponzi scheme involving their settlement funds, as announced by United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.
Leach pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and tax evasion, admitting that he forged client signatures and deposited their settlement checks into his attorney IOLTA account. These funds were used for personal expenses and to repay earlier clients whose funds had been embezzled. To continue his scheme, Leach misled clients about the status of their cases and falsely claimed he would use settlement funds to cover medical expenses and other bills.
Between 2014 and 2019, Leach took steps to hide his gains from the IRS. This included making false statements on IRS forms about his assets, misleading IRS Revenue officers regarding his ability to pay taxes, withdrawing over $540,000 from his IOLTA accounts for personal expenses, and transferring money from client accounts to family members' accounts for personal payments.
"Peter Leach egregiously abused the core responsibility of any lawyer—the trust of his clients—to help himself to money that belonged to victims of accidents and tragedies," remarked U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Cunha. "Today’s sentence provides not just accountability but hopefully a chance for his victims to recover some of the funds that he stole from them."
Thomas E. Demeo, Acting Special Agent in Charge of IRS-CI Boston stated, "While it is the expectation that a person can trust their attorney, Leach used his position to take advantage of his clients... Now, there is no lie that he can tell to hide the fact that he will spend the next few years in prison for his criminal acts."
U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin sentenced Leach to 33 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release. Leach was also ordered to pay restitution totaling $299,774.41 to his victims. In addition, a separate order is expected requiring him to pay $320,622.76 in unpaid taxes to the IRS.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Sandra R. Hebert and Denise M. Barton after an investigation conducted by the Rhode Island State Police Financial Crimes Unit and Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation.