Attorney pleads guilty to bilking elderly clients

An elder-law attorney pleaded guilty Monday to stealing millions from clients in their 80s and 90s she was supposed to be helping.

Barbara Lieberman, 62, admitted manipulating clients’ accounts to put co-conspirators in charge of the finances, then having unauthorized checks written from those accounts. She pleaded guilty to one first-degree count of money laundering, which carries as much as 20 years in prison.

Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend a 10-year term with 3½ years of parole ineligibility. She also agreed to forfeit $3 million seized by the government.

The deal did not sit well with Barbara Martin, whose dogged insistence that her aunt was a victim of Lieberman was credited by state Sen. Jeff Van Drew with helping spark the case.

“It’s an inappropriate deal. It’s a disgusting deal. It’s a joke,” Martin said when told of the terms. “Barbara Lieberman is a serial thief who betrayed her oath to uphold the law.”

Martin’s aunt, Helen Hugo, was one of many who had Lieberman as a court-appointed guardian in Atlantic County. There have been no charges in connection with Lieberman’s work in that capacity.

In March, county Surrogate Jim Curcio said “a comprehensive review of all the files in this office is underway, and appropriate Superior Court action is going to be taken.”

Nothing more has been released on that.

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Attorney pleads guilty to bilking elderly clients