Convicted Swindler Finally Lands in Court

Peter M. Sharma, a convicted Beverly Hills swindler, was finally hauled into federal court after evading law enforcement officials for nearly a decade. Sharma was convicted in 1988 of tax fraud for misappropriating investors’ funds, laundering them through his accounts at a brokerage firm and then providing victims with counterfeit commodities statements for their tax returns. Sharma was originally arrested in 1985 after a high-speed chase through Westlake Village. While free on bond, he fled to France but later returned to the United States, where he was arrested again. But rather than report to prison after his conviction, he disappeared again and was living under an alias in Tarzana until this year, when he was arrested. On Wednesday, Sharma pleaded guilty to bail jumping on his original five-year prison sentence.