Couple Plead No Contest to Felony Fraud Charges
A Pasadena couple have pleaded no contest to felony charges 15 years after authorities believe they bilked investors out of millions of dollars and fled to Britain.
In an agreement with the district attorney’s office, Stanley Sirotin, 74, pleaded no contest last week to stealing more than $150,000 and selling securities by misrepresentation. Sirotin also pleaded no contest to filing a false tax return, the district attorney’s office said.
Sirotin, who faces up to six years in prison, will be sentenced April 7 in Los Angeles Superior Court.
His wife, Alice Beryl, 64, pleaded no contest to failing to file a tax return, prosecutors said. She faces up to two years in prison.
The couple left the country for England in 1984 while owing $6 million in judgments to investors from Orange County and the San Fernando Valley, as an investigation into their dealings intensified.
In 1986, the Sirotins were charged with bilking area investors out of millions of dollars they put into land development projects, including the Commons and the Burlington Arcade, both on South Lake Avenue in Pasadena.
But authorities in England refused to extradite them. They were arrested last April in Miami after getting off a plane from England.
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