Kevin Richard Halligen, who convinced lawyers, lobbyists and others in Washington’s elite intelligence community that he was a former British spy and allegedly conned them out of millions, pleaded guilty Friday in D.C. federal court of defrauding former business associates out of $2.1 million.

“Was it your intent to defraud?” U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly asked Halligen.

It was,” replied Halligen, a former high-roller who once lived for months at a time in a suite at the Willard Hotel, but is now being held in a D.C. jail pending sentencing on June 27.

Halligen, 51, lived in Washington and worked as a “security consultant” from 2005 to November 2008, until he drained his bank accounts and fled, leaving behind a string of creditors from lawyers to limo drivers to housekeepers. He was arrested in Oxford, England, after a year on the run, and he was extradited to the United States in December to stand trial.

Halligen pleaded guilty Friday to defrauding Trafigura, an international company based in the Netherlands, that had hired him to help free two executives who had been arrested in Ivory Coast in 2006. The company paid Halligen about $12 million to provide “security, intelligence and public relations.”

Court documents show that Trafigura gave Halligen an additional $2.1 million in January 2007 to “hire lobbyists and influence officials in the United States on Trafigura’s behalf.” The next day, Halligen used nearly $1.7 million of that money to buy a large home with a swimming pool in Great Falls.

Halligen “exploited a company desperate to secure the release of its executives from a foreign prison,” U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. said in a statement. “He conned the company out of $2 million he claimed would be used to support his efforts to rescue them, but instead used the money to buy a six-bedroom mansion.”

Kollar-Kotelly told Halligen that the fraud conviction carries a maximum of 20 years in prison, but that under federal sentencing guidelines he would likely serve no more than 41 months. She also said he could be fined up to $75,000.

Halligen has been in jail for 42 months, since his November 2009 arrest in England. The U.S. attorney’s office said Halligen would be credited with time already served, which could satisfy his prison sentence.

Halligen, wearing a blue blazer, yellow tie and baggy brown pants, also agreed to pay restitution of $2.1 million to Trafigura. Federal public defender David Bos said Halligen had no assets, so he was not sure how or when Halligen could pay.

“He’s clearly done the honorable thing by pleading guilty,” said John Holmes, a retired British army general and former head of the British military’s special forces. Holmes said Halligen conned him out of thousands of dollars. “However, there is still the outstanding question of where all his money has gone,” he said.

Halligen will also likely be deported, but it was unclear to where. The U.S. attorney’s office said Halligen is an Irish citizen, but in court Friday Halligen said he was born in Ireland but is a British citizen. Halligen told the judge he would leave the United States voluntarily.