Dr. Medhat El Amir signed the guilty plea 14 months ago, but now says he is innocent.
NEWARK -- After federal prosecutors hit Dr. Medhat El Amir with a host of charges relating to his alleged failure to pay more than $500,000 in taxes to the IRS, the North Jersey urgent care physician signed a plea agreement last year admitting to two of the charges.
On Tuesday, minutes before he was to learn if he would be going to prison on those charges, El Amir told U.S. District Judge Jose Linares that he wanted to plead not guilty.
Medhat El Amir. (LinkedIn)"I am innocent from day one," said El Amir, who was described in an indictment as a 60-percent owner in Immediate Care, which operates two urgent care centers in Jersey City and one in North Bergen.
Asked by Linares why he signed the plea deal if he was innocent, El Amir, 61, of Saddle River, said he was "under pressure from the attorney."
El Amir said he was "embarrassed" to tell the court earlier that he wanted to revoke the plea deal.
His attorney, Samuel DeLuca of Jersey City, shook his head and said he advised El Amir against changing his mind. He also denied pressuring El Amir, saying he had just learned Tuesday that El Amir wanted to back out of the plea deal.
Still, El Amir told Linares that he has "an excellent relationship" with DeLuca.
"Now you're confusing me," Linares said.
DeLuca said he wanted no part of the last-minute change of plans and asked Linares to release him from the case.
The judge then asked El Amir if he had another lawyer, and El Amir said he had one in mind, but would not tell Linares the lawyer's name. Linares noted that El Amir has been represented by at least four lawyers in the case already.
He gave El Amir two weeks to get a new lawyer, and said after that he would set a schedule for attorneys to argue whether El Amir should be allowed to rescind the deal.
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Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Gannett said prosecutors will oppose any motion to do so.
The two counts to which El Amir pleaded last year carry a prison term of up to eight years, a fine and restitution of $502,160 -- the amount he allegedly owed in back taxes.
If the court accepts his bid to plead not guilty, El Amir would face charges on all eight counts -- including hindering the administration of the IRS, four counts of tax evasion and three counts of failing to file a tax return -- again. If found guilty, the first charge carries a prison term of up to three years and the other charges carry prison terms of up to five years each, as well as fines.
In his indictment, prosecutors alleged that El Amir took millions of dollars of revenue from the emergency care centers to check cashing stores and then distributed much of the money to a dozen bank accounts he controlled.
It said he used the funds to pay college tuition for his children, to make mortgage payments on the Saddle River house and for other personal purposes.
The indictment also says El Amir transferred the house in 2005 to his sister for $2.5 million to keep the property out of the reach of the IRS.
In each of the years in question, from 2007 through 2010, El Amir's income never went below $503,000, the indictment says.
According to a record of his plea deal, El Amir admitted to the allegations laid out in the indictment, but blamed his accountant for mistakes on his income tax filings.
Tim Darragh may be reached at tdarragh@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @timdarragh. Find NJ.com on Facebook.