By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org

Disgraced Portsmouth attorney James E. Ritzo, accused of defrauding the Salvation Army out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, had his law license suspended indefinitely.

Ritzo’s license was suspended indefinitely last month by the New Hampshire Supreme Court on the grounds he is no longer physically or mentally capable of practicing law. Russell Hilliard, Ritzo’s attorney, did not respond to a request for comment.

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office told InDepthNH.org that Ritzo settled the complaint brought by the Charitable Trust Unit last year, agreeing to pay $50,000 to the state. The terms of the settlement Ritzo entered into with the Salvation Army are confidential.

According to documents filed with the Rockingham County Registry of Deeds, Ritzo’s wife, Carol Ritzo, entered into a mortgage agreement last month with the Salvation Army. The agreement had the Ritzos paying $600,000 to the charity organization.

Ritzo’s former client, Francis Cash, died in 2002 at the age of 87. The elderly bachelor left his money to Roger W. Guilbault Jr. of Portsmouth and the Salvation Army after he died, according to court records. Ritzo allegedly used the trust fund to buy real estate while the Salvation Army claimed it received just $400,000 from the trust fund Ritzo set up for Cash. 

The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office accused Guilbault and Ritzo of “insinuating themselves” in Cash’s life before he died in order to get control of the trust.

On June 5, 2001, Ritzo drafted the Francis W. Cash Memorial Trust which provided that, upon Cash’s death, Guilbault would receive 80 percent of the trust’s net income annually. The value of the trust was more than $2 million at the time of Cash’s death. Ritzo also drafted a deed conveying Cash’s home at 293 Austin St., Portsmouth, to Cash and Guilbault as joint tenants with right of survivorship.

Guilbault was arrested in 2008 in connection to a violent home invasion and the theft of an antique rifle. At the time of his arrest, Guilbault also was a fugitive from justice in Ohio in connection to alleged narcotics trafficking. Guilbault died in prison seven years later. 

That left Ritzo in charge of the trust, and he allegedly used that money to buy a home and an apartment building later converted to condominiums. The Charitable Trust Unit alleged Ritzo engaged in a myriad of purchases, sales, transfers and loan agreement with the properties, including selling at least one to his wife and another to his son, all of which reduced the amount of money the Cash Trust should have paid out to the Salvation Army.

The Supreme Court’s order suspending Ritzo’s law license notes that Ritzo has not practiced as an attorney since 2018 and has no intention of working as a lawyer again. The order also stays the pending Attorney Discipline Office investigation into Ritzo.