FORMER CHATEAU MARMONT ACCOUNTANT PLEADS GUILTY TO EMBEZZLEMENT

A former accountant for the Chateau Marmont hotel has pleaded guilty to charges that he embezzled over nearly $14 million from the hotel between 1996 and 2002, U.S. Attorney Debra W. Yang has announced today.

Kelly Timothy Ebert, 39, of Westlake Village, who has been held without bond since his arrest in March 2003, pleaded guilty before United States District Court Judge William Matthew Byrne, Jr. Wednesday morning to two counts of wire fraud. Ebert, who had a criminal record before he began working at the Chateau Marmont, also pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a number of firearms.

At his change of plea, Ebert admitted to stealing nearly $14 million dollars between 1996 and 2002 from an account at the Bank of Orange County in Fountain Valley, California, into which the Chateau Marmont's credit card receipts were deposited. Ebert was hired as the controller of the Chateau Marmont in 1993, and admitted that he did not tell the persons who hired him that he had been convicted in Colorado of forgery in 1987. While he worked at the hotel, Ebert directed the money from the Chateau Marmont to a business account he controlled in the name "CD-Rom Travel Planners," and admitted when pleading guilty that he falsified the hotel's accounting records to conceal his theft. Ebert then moved funds from the CD-Rom Travel Planners business account to his personal account and other accounts he controlled. Under questioning from Judge Byrne, Ebert admitted that he used the money, among other things, to purchase and improve a $2.3 million home near the Lake Sherwood country club, and to purchase jewelry and collectibles. Ebert was eventually fired from the Chateau Marmont in March 2002.

Ebert's sentencing has been set for August 11, 2003, at which time he faces a maximum of twenty years imprisonment.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.