The former operator of a New Jersey Clifton-based real estate investment program pleaded guilty recently to operating a Ponzi-scheme in which she raised in excess of $15 million from hundreds of investors in New Jersey and throughout the United States, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra, Jr. said.

Marcia Sladich, 51, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden to a one-count Information charging her with mail fraud in connection with the fraudulent real estate scheme Sladich orchestrated and ran from 2004 through December 2007.

Judge Hayden scheduled sentencing for Nov. 24. Sladich remains in custody, where she has been since her arrest last August. The mail fraud charge to which Sladich pleaded guilty carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and fine of $250,000 or twice the aggregate loss to any victim or aggregate gain to Sladich.

However, under the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, Sladich faces an actual sentencing range of between 63 and 78 months in federal prison. The Sentencing Guidelines are advisory only, and Judge Hayden has discretion to sentence within or outside of that sentencing range.