California man pleads guilty in $50M internet scheme

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A California man has pleaded guilty to running a $50 million fraud scheme using websites that advertised high returns on certificates of deposit.

Allen Giltman of Irvine, California pleaded guilty by videoconference Wednesday to two counts of conspiracy.

The U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey says that over an eight-year span, Giltman and others used fake websites offering high returns on CDs to lure investors.

Some of the websites were set up to resemble those of legitimate financial institutions.

Money wired by victims was routed to accounts in Russia, Turkey and Hong Kong and not used to purchase the CDs. Giltman is scheduled to be sentenced in May.