NEW YORK: High-profile New York lawyer Marc Dreier pleaded guilty on Monday to criminal charges of running a $400 million investment fraud involving fake promissory notes, and a judge released him into house arrest until sentencing.

The Harvard-educated Dreier, once head of 250-member law firm Dreier LLP on New York's exclusive Park Avenue, was arrested last December on charges of swindling hedge funds and investment funds in a four-year-long scheme that unraveled in the financial crisis.

Dreier, who turned 59 yesterday, said in a prepared statement in Manhattan federal court before US District Judge Jed Rakoff that he was guilty of securities fraud, conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering.