NEW YORK -- Investment advisor Kenneth Starr, who managed money for "high net-worth and celebrity clients," pleaded guilty Friday to charges he stole up to $50 million from investors.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in New York said Starr admitted to stealing his clients' money on a number of occasions between 2009 and 2010. The total loss to clients is between $20 and $50 million, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Starr used stolen funds to pay millions of dollars in legal fees, cover his firm's operating expenses and buy a luxury condo on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Starr, 66, admitted that he laundered stolen money through an "attorney trust account" to hide the source of the funds, according to prosecutors. He also misled one client into investing in a company, which was really a loan to a personal friend.

"Kenneth Starr systematically defrauded his friends, family, and business associates out of tens of millions of dollars through phony deals, repeatedly abusing the trust of those who believed he was an upstanding businessman," New York County district attorney Cyrus Vance, said in a statement.

Starr, who faces a statutory maximum sentence of 45 years, and a recommended guidelines sentence of 121 to 151 months' imprisonment, agreed to forfeit his multimillion dollar home. Prosecutors could go after another $50 million in assets under his control.

Starr is scheduled to be sentenced in a New York court later this year. Flora Edwards, the attorney representing Starr, did not immediately respond to calls requesting comment. Wall Street cops get tough



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