A Florida money manager dubbed the "mini Madoff" said he was "profoundly sorry" before pleading guilty this morning to all charges in a $397 million Ponzi scheme.
"I understand the anger and rage on the part of all the people I let down after they placed their faith in me," Arthur Nadel said in Manhattan federal court. "I want them to know I will carry this burden with me for the rest of my life."
Nadel, 77, also implicated two hedge-fund trading partners, Neil and Christopher Moody, saying the three of them "received tens of millions in fees" that "we were not entitled to."
The Moodys last month settled a civil suit filed by the SEC, which accused them of overstating the value of their funds by $160 million, but the father-and-son team hasn't been hit with criminal charges.
Nadel -- who made headlines by going on the lam to avoid arrest after his scheme collapsed in January 2009 -- admitted lying about his trading losses and falsely inflating the value of his funds to keep the scam going for nearly seven years.
He faces between 151 and 293 months behind bars under differing calculations of sentencing guidelines prepared by the prosecution and defense.
He also agreed to forfeit $162 million in proceeds from his scam, along with properties he purchased in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, along with five airplanes, a helicopter and 31 airplane hangars.
But Nadel's deal with prosecutors -- under which he pleaded guilty to 15 counts of securities, mail and wire fraud -- calls for him to keep the Sarasota home where his wife lives.
Judge John Koeltl, who scheduled sentencing for June 11, warned that he wasn't bound by those agreements, noting that Nadel's crimes carry a maximum term of 300 years in prison.
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