A disbarred attorney from the Garden State has admitted to a wire fraud scheme that bilked people out of more than $1 million.

On Wednesday in Trenton federal court, 61-year-old Lawrence Coven of Hillsborough, Somerset County, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

Federal authorities say Coven operated and controlled Sunrise Enterprises, LLC, which purported to provide financial services to investors.

In reality, Coven induced victim investors into sending him funds by falsely representing that he would invest their money through Sunrise in exchange for large profits by providing short-term loans to borrowers who could not obtain standard loans. He falsely guaranteed investors returns of between 10 to 15 percent on their investments and told investors that their investments were risk-free.

Instead of investing their money as promised, officials said he used it for personal expenses, like utilities, entertainment, real estate, credit card bills, and cash withdrawals.

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When investors began asking questions, Coven assured them their money was safe and he used funds from other investors to make payments in a Ponzi-like fashion.

Coven now potentially faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Sentencing is scheduled for February 13th.

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