A hedge fund manager in Florida who took millions of dollars from investors, then briefly disappeared as investigators closed in, has pleaded guilty to securities fraud in a New York court, media reports said.

The fund manager, Arthur Nadel, 77, apologized for his conduct as he entered the plea before Judge John Koeltl of Federal District Court in Manhattan.

Federal sentencing guidelines call for Mr Nadel to serve as much as 24 years in prison. Sentencing is schedule for June, reports said. He has been in jail since his arrest, unable to make bail.

The terms of a plea bargain allow Mr. Nadel’s family to keep a home in Sarasota, Fla., but permit the government to seize up to $162 million in other assets, including Mr Nadel’s shares in investment entities that own hundreds of acres of land, homes and a company that owns airplanes.

Mr. Nadel vanished last winter as investigators scrutinized his business dealings.

The case is the latest in a number of offences that have come to light amid the financial turmoil over the past two years, the most notorious of which was the $65 billion Ponzi scheme fraud of Bernard Madoff.