Jan.06, 2010, 01:00 AM EST

Rocco P. DeSimone, tarred last year by a prosecutor as a “career con man,” pleaded guilty of mail fraud and money laundering Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

DeSimone, 56, a Johnston art dealer who previously served a prison term for tax evasion, entered the plea before Judge William E. Smith as jury selection was about to begin for his trial on an indictment handed up last year. The defendant has been held without bail since the expiration of his jail sentence.

The indictment to which he pleaded involved several victims and the commission of a crime involving the wiring of $500,000 from one of the victims to a bank account controlled by the defendant.

DeSimone is to be sentenced May 21. Lee H. Vilker, assistant U.S. Attorney, said during court proceedings in March that DeSimone faced 210 years if convicted. His guilty plea to nine counts of mail fraud could bring a fine of up to $250,000 for each count. The money-laundering count also carries a fine of up to $250,000.

U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha’s office said in a news release after the guilty plea that DeSimone solicited $1.2 million in cash from some investors, and that other investors sent him merchandise, including eight antique Japanese swords.

Neronha said DeSimone spent $180,000 on a Ford GT car, artwork, mortgage payments and a large payment to the IRS for taxes owed from his previous conviction, which involved the sale of master-class paintings by such artists as Claude Monet, Henri Matisse and Pierre Auguste Renoir.

Vilker said previously that the latest crimes with which DeSimone was charged occurred during a period when DeSimone had won release from prison on bail while appealing his tax-evasion conviction.

According to the indictment:

DeSimone, beginning in May 2006, convinced Robert McKittrick — who patented the Drink Stik, which allowed wearers of protective gear such as soldiers and first-responders to consume fluids without removing the gear — that he was a personal friend of the chief executive officer of Fidelity Investments. He said the CEO had agreed to buy the Drink Stik for millions of dollars.

DeSimone, to convince McKittrick that he was capable of raising large sums, told McKittrick fraudulently that he had recently sold a painting by Monet on behalf of David Lindsay, a friend of McKittrick’s.

As a result, McKittrick agreed to give DeSimone a one-third interest in McKittrick’s company.

McKittrick also invented the Song Tube, described as an improved gastrointestinal apparatus. In August 2006, DeSimone convinced McKittrick that he could market the invention, and received a third of the rights to sell and distribute it.

DeSimone also allegedly insisted that it was a “done deal” that the Raytheon Co. had agreed to purchase the Drink Stik for millions of dollars.

In fact, Raytheon had told DeSimone in December 2006 that it had no interest in buying Drink Stik.

DeSimone ultimately obtained $1.2 million in cash and $4.9 million in property and forgiven debts.