Producer admits $5.5m swindle

LOS ANGELES - A Hollywood producer who claimed he was creating a TV show about the Department of Homeland Security has pleaded guilty to swindling dozens of investors out of millions of dollars.

Joseph Medawar, 44, spent much of the US$3.4 million ($5.5 million) he raised from about 50 people on luxury cars and a Beverly Hills mansion for himself and the woman billed as the future star of DHS.

Medawar pleaded guilty to fraud and tax evasion in a plea bargain that involved prosecutors dropping money laundering and other charges.

He could face up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in August in US District Court in Los Angeles.

In print and radio interviews in 2004 and 2005, Medawar falsely claimed that DHS had the endorsement of President George W. Bush and that there were 24 episodes in post-production.

- REUTERS