L.A. Man Pleads Guilty in Securities Fraud Case

A Los Angeles man pleaded guilty to securities fraud for cheating 200 investors while running a $21-million scheme that lasted seven years.

Gary A. Eisenberg, 64, promised investors they would make up to 18% interest annually, with little risk, by putting money into his businesses from 1994 to 2001, authorities said. He said he would lend the money to well-known companies that pledged their accounts receivables as collateral.

Eisenberg’s Advanced Finance Holding Inc. of Beverly Hills filed for bankruptcy protection in late 2001. Eisenberg is cooperating with federal prosecutors and “acknowledges and accepts full responsibility for the mistakes that were made by him,” said John Cotton, his lawyer.

Eisenberg agreed to plead guilty to four felony charges and pay back investors in exchange for a recommended sentence of about four to five years, prosecutors said.