FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) —A disbarred attorney who courted politicians and star athletes and led a flamboyant lifestyle even by flashy South Florida standards pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges that he ran a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.

Scott Rothstein, 47, pleaded guilty to all five counts against him, including wire fraud, money-laundering conspiracy and a racketeering charge commonly used to take down Mafia chieftains. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 100 years in federal prison and at least $1.5 million in potential fines.

Sentencing is set for 6 May before U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn.

Rothstein said little during a brief hearing, other than responding "guilty" to the charges and answering the judge's many questions with "yes" or "I understand."

His wife, Kim Rothstein, spoke publicly about the case for the first time, reading a statement to reporters outside the courthouse.

"Today is the saddest day of my life," she said. She also denied wrongdoing in the scheme, though federal officials have never accused her of being involved. "Two years ago when I married the sweetest man I'd ever met, I would never have believed our future together could come to this."

The plea caps a downward spiral that began in late October, when court documents say Rothstein fled Florida on a chartered jet to Morocco carrying $500,000 in cash after wiring another $16 million to a Casablanca account he controlled. He returned to face charges and has been in federal custody since the FBI arrested him 1 December.

Authorities have seized two dozen homes and other real estate once owned by Rothstein, along with 20 exotic cars — Ferraris, a Bugatti Veyron, a Maserati among them — as well as numerous bank accounts, an 87-foot yacht, expensive jewellery and other assets. All will eventually be used to repay dozens of jilted investors, many of whom have filed lawsuits seeking at least some of their money back.

The law firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler is now defunct, with as many as 50 of its 70 former attorneys under investigation by the Florida Bar for possible irregularities involving client trust funds, according to Bar spokeswoman Francine Walker.