Calif. man pleads guilty to $13.5M NASCAR fraud

A 64-year-old man has pleaded guilty to mail fraud in Los Angeles after he was accused of bilking family and friends out of $13.5 million in a Ponzi scheme.

Eliott Drescher pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud Tuesday in federal court. He's scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 19 where he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors say Drescher convinced investors that they were financing a wholesale business to distribute NASCAR merchandise to "big box" stores like Costco. He guaranteed investors between 20 and 25 percent returns every six months.

Authorities say the deal with NASCAR and stores was a lie, and he paid the returns through the investments of new investors.

Drescher ran the scheme for more than a decade, causing more than two dozen families to lose at least $5 million. Mercury News/AP