Essex County Lawyer Used Stolen Funds To Pay His Own Alimony – Bloomfield, NJ Patch

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A Bloomfield resident who ran a Newark law firm pleaded guilty to stealing $20,000 from clients, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Richard M. Roberts, 81, of Bloomfield, pleaded guilty to third-degree charges of perjury and theft by failure to make required disposition of property received. Roberts was on trial in Morris County when he decided to plead guilty on the second day of testimony, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.

Roberts’ former law partner, Gerald M. Saluti Jr., took the witness stand on Tuesday prior to the guilty plea, prosecutors said.

Roberts admitted that he stole $20,000 in client funds from his law firm’s attorney trust account which he used to make alimony payments, prosecutors stated.

Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Roberts be sentenced to up to 364 days in the county jail and a term of probation. He will be required to permanently forfeit his law license, prosecutors said.

Roberts is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 29.

According to prosecutors, an investigation by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability revealed that from December 2012 through August 2013, Roberts and his law partner, Saluti, conspired to steal funds from the firm’s attorney trust account. In total, about $140,000 was stolen from four clients.

The funds included settlement awards owed to the clients and monies the two men were obligated to hold in escrow or use to make payments on behalf of the clients, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors added:

“With respect to the perjury charge, Roberts admitted that he falsely told law enforcement and testified under oath that he never authorized the practice administrator for their firm, Gabriel Iannacone, to make his alimony payments. Roberts admitted that, in fact, he did direct Iannacone to make alimony payments for him, and he knew at the time that Ianncone was making the payments from the firm’s attorney trust account. Ianncone pleaded guilty in 2017 to a third-degree conspiracy charge in connection with the improper withdrawals and payments from the attorney trust account. He is now deceased.”

Saluti, 51, of Howell, pleaded guilty on Feb. 21 to a third-degree conspiracy charge. He permanently forfeited his law license and paid restitution of $137,652. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 5; the state will recommend that he be sentenced to a term of probation, prosecutors said.

Roberts and Saluti were previously suspended from the practice of law in New Jersey. Roberts was suspended in November 2015, and Saluti, in February 2014.

In August 2013, the men dissolved their partnership, Roberts & Saluti LLC, which did business as Saluti Law Group, prosecutors said.

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