Lawyer Says He Laundered Money for Starr

(CN) - Attorney Jonathan Bristol pleaded guilty in Manhattan on Monday of laundering money in financial adviser Kenneth Starr's Ponzi scheme.

Bristol, an attorney licensed in New York and New Jersey, "helped Starr defraud his clients and concealed Starr's criminal conduct by using two separate attorney trust accounts that were under his control to launder Starr's defrauded funds," the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement announcing the December 2010 indictment.

That statement continued: "When Starr's clients confronted Bristol about why their money, entrusted to Starr, had been transferred to Bristol's escrow accounts without their knowledge, Bristol lied to them about the purpose of the transactions."

Bristol pleaded guilty to a one-count information of conspiracy to commit money laundering before U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts. He agreed to forfeit more than $8.8 million.

Starr pleaded guilty in September 2010 to wire fraud, money laundering and investment adviser fraud.

If convicted, Bristol could face up to 20 years in prison.

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