Former Burrillville solicitor disbarred
BURRILLVILLE — Oleg Nikolyszyn, a former Providence lawyer and town solicitor for the Town of Burrillville, was disbarred Thursday by the state’s highest court.
The disbarment comes two weeks after Nikolyszyn, 65, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to charges that he fraudulently collected over a quarter-million dollars in pension funds in the name of a former client for some 12 years after the man’s death.
On Jan. 6, 2020, Nikolyszyn filed an affidavit with the court’s disciplinary board stating that he was aware he was the subject of a disciplinary investigation, and that he freely and voluntarily consents to disbarment. The disciplinary board filed the affidavit with the court on Jan. 10.
“Upon review of the respondent’s affidavit, we deem that an order disbarring the respondent is appropriate,” the court said in a decision Thursday.
Federal prosecutors said Nikolyszyn, who was suspended from the practice of law in 2016, admitted collecting monthly pension payments totaling $234,586 from December 2003 to September 2015 in the name of a former employee of the City of Providence who was a member of the Laborer’s International Union of North America (LIUNA).
The municipal worker had hired Nikolyszyn in May 2000, granting the lawyer power of attorney to take various actions on his client’s behalf. Among the privileges accorded Nikolyszyn were receiving, signing and depositing pension checks payable to his client, prosecutors said.
Appearing before U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith on Jan. 3, Nikolyszyn
entered pleas of guilty to two counts of mail fraud and one count of theft from an employee benefit pension fund.
As part of the plea, he admitted to various underlying facts, including his continuous receipt of monthly pension payments in his client’s name for nearly twelve years following the client’s death on Nov. 12, 2003.
Additionally, Nikolyszyn admitted to depositing the funds into a bank account in the names of both himself and his former client, and then converting the funds to his and his family’s personal use by transferring them into bank accounts he shared with his family.
Nikolyszyn admitted to collecting $173,597 in payments from the City of Providence Employee’s Retirement System and $60,989 from the LIUNA
Pension Fund in the name of his former client, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say Nikolyszyn faces a maximum penalty of up 20 years on each count of mail fraud and up to five years for benefits theft. Additionally, he could be fined hundreds of thousand of dollars – up to $250,000 or not more than twice the gross gain or twice the gross loss resulting from each of the offenses, according to federal prosecutors.
Nikolyszyn faces up to three years supervised released after his term of incarceration, if any, is completed.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24.
Nikolyszyn served the town of Burrillville for several years, as both the assistant town solicitor and town solicitor before the state’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel launched an investigation into the pension theft.