A former Credit Suisse broker who was nabbed as a fugitive in Spain has pleaded guilty to fraud and bail-jumping charges today in Brooklyn federal court.
Asked by a judge why he was entering the guilty plea, Julian Tzolov replied: "I got scared."
He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Spanish authorities in Marbella arrested Tzolov last week with help from the FBI. Tzolov was nabbed with about $1,200 in cash and a gold watch, federal officials said.
The former Credit Suisse banker is accused of massive securities fraud between 2004 and 2007. He and a former partner at Credit Suisse, Eric Butler, are charged with duping foreign corporate customers into believing that $1 billion in U.S. securities being bought for their accounts.
Butler and Tzolov are on trial together. It is unclear if they will testify against each other.
Tzolov disappeared May 9 when he cut his ankle bracelet and fled in an effort to avoid trial, federal prosecutors said. He had been freed on $3 million bail and allowed to return home to his apartment at 225 Fifth Avenue. Tzolov, who is from Bulgaria, had also been ordered to surrender his passport.
FBI officials have called the pair's actions "unscrupulous and illegal."
