Lawyer strikes plea deal in bilking of widow

Cherry Hill lawyer Michael Kwasnik, under federal investigation in an alleged $8.5 million Ponzi scheme, has pleaded guilty to state money-laundering charges in the theft of $1.1 million from a 96-year-old widow.

The New Jersey Attorney General's Office said that under the plea agreement, signed quietly in late January, Kwasnik will repay the estate of the Cherry Hill woman, who died sometime after he was indicted on Nov. 7, 2011.

Kwasnik remains the focus of a federal criminal probe into the scheme that authorities say was used to bilk dozens of elderly victims.

"The plea agreement does not in any way affect any potential criminal charges that would be filed in connection with the Ponzi scheme," said Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa.

Kwasnik is scheduled for sentencing May 10 before Superior Court Judge Irvin J. Snyder. He will serve no time beyond the five months he spent in the Camden County Jail after his arrest. He agreed to repay the estate by the end of his up-to-five-year probationary period, the Attorney General's Office said.

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Lawyer strikes plea deal in bilking of widow