A Las Vegas attorney accused of orchestrating a more than $500 million Ponzi scheme pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud during a federal court hearing Thursday.

Matthew Beasley has been in custody since he was apprehended by FBI agents during an armed standoff at his northwest Las Vegas home in March 2022. According to federal prosecutors, Beasley helped solicit more than $519 million in fraudulent investments from 2017 to 2022.

Beasley returned some money to investors as part of the scheme, prosecutors said. Nearly 950 investors ultimately lost more than $245 million.

“Are you pleading guilty because in truth and in fact you are guilty, and no other reason?” U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey asked Beasley during Thursday’s hearing.

“Yes, your honor,” Beasley replied, appearing in court wearing a dark blue inmate uniform.

Beasley could face up to 100 years in prison for the wire fraud charges, but prosecutors have agreed they would not argue for a prison sentence of more than 20 years. In turn, Beasley has agreed to not argue for less than a 12-year prison sentence.

The guilty plea agreement does not force the judge to agree to either sentence.

Beasley told the judge Thursday that a more favorable plea deal was not presented to him. Federal prosecutor Daniel Schiess said that officials offered Beasley “the opportunity to cooperate.”

“But that is not the terms today,” Schiess said during the court hearing.

Beasley’s federal public defender, Joanne Diamond, declined to comment after the hearing.

An investigation by the Washington Post, in partnership with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, found that Beasley and his business partner, Jeffrey Judd, used the Ponzi scheme to target members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The scheme was pitched as an investment to earn annual returns of up to 50 percent by lending money to slip-and-fall victims awaiting checks after lawsuit settlements.

“In reality, defendants never found or intended to find plaintiffs who wanted to borrow money against their insurance settlements,” prosecutors wrote in Beasley’s guilty plea agreement.

Instead, Beasley used new investor money to pay off previous investors. Prosecutors wrote in the guilty plea agreement that Beasley worked with a partner — identified in court documents only as “Individual-1” — to attract investors. Officials also allege that Beasley’s partner recruited several “promoters” to help manage the fraudulent investments and find more investors.

Prosecutors allege that Beasley used more than $10 million to pay off his gambling debts, and another $22.8 million to continue gambling and to “enrich himself,” purchasing luxury homes, high-end cars and recreational vehicles.

Beasley was also initially charged with several money laundering counts, but those charges were not addressed in the guilty plea agreement.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit in April 2022 against Beasley, Judd and five others allegedly involved with the scheme. Litigation in that suit is ongoing.

Prosecutors on Thursday said there may be “some refinements” to officials’ calculations of how much money was lost in the Ponzi scheme, but the total amount is not expected to exceed $250 million.

Ann Mabeus is one of the investors who lost money to the Ponzi scheme, and she’s spent the last several years focused on rebuilding her life to support her four children.

“This is something nobody should have to go through, especially at the hands of someone else,” she told the Review-Journal in a recent interview.

Mabeus said she primarily communicated with Beasley’s associates, who she said pressured her to invest money into the scheme. She said she believes others involved in the scheme should be prosecuted.

“I really hope that justice takes its course appropriately,” she said. “And if you were to ask me if I thought they were guilty, my answer would be yes.”

A sentencing hearing for Beasley is scheduled for Jan. 28.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Review-Journal staff writer Noble Brigham contributed to this report.

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