I Was Scammed By Disbarred Lawyer While Living In China, Can I Still Sue Them In The Us?

Location: VA / China

tl;dr: While living in China I hired someone who turned out to be a disbarred American lawyer. They claimed to have a law firm in China, took my money, didn't actually work on the case, and acted "offended" when confronted and refused a refund.

I taught English in China and had legal issues with my school. I found someone online after asking for advice. They claimed to own a law firm in China and work with Chinese lawyers. Foreigners can’t practice law there, but they said they had a team.

We signed a contract in English and Chinese. They said the Chinese lawyer would act against the school. The school’s lawyer spoke to the Chinese lawyer once and then ghosted them.

The Chinese lawyer reached out a few times, and whenever we asked for updates, they said the lawyer was working on it. In reality, the Chinese lawyer didn’t work for the disbarred American and couldn’t act independently without risking their license.

This went on for 3–4 months with no real progress.

My wife found the Chinese lawyer’s real firm with a simple search. The disbarred American then contacted the school directly, which was confusing and embarrassing since I had no legal authority.

We confronted the American about not working on the case and misrepresenting the lawyer’s role. They refused to continue services or issue a refund.

Chinese authorities couldn’t help because we’re outside the country and their listed address was fake, the police won't really do anything unless there's enough publicity sometimes.

I googled the American's name and found they were disbarred for taking clients’ money, not actually doing any real work but claiming to have spent hours "working" on the case, forging documents, and ghosting clients and their lawyers after getting sued for this

Since I can’t sue them in China, is there any recourse in the US for someone acting as a lawyer while disbarred?