By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN FEDERAL COURT — A former lawyer with the Securities and Exchange Commission pleaded guilty Monday to helping Marc Dreier rip off hedge fund buyers of $44.7 million.
Robert Miller called potential holders of Dreier's phony promissory notes and falsely represented himself as a bond insurer and a hedge-fund seller as part of the scheme, prosecutors said.
On separate occasions, Miller called from Canadian and European cell phones, and was briefed by Dreier about the weather in Iceland and other details in an attempt to be convincing as an Icelandic hedge fund representative during the calls, prosecutors charged in Manhattan federal court.
In exchange for the illicit services, Miller accepted $100,000 from Dreier, court documents show.
Dreier pled guilty to federal charges for $400 million in fraud and is serving a 20-year sentence in prison.
Miller now faces up to 25 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 5, 2010.
