Ex-Caltech Economist Guilty in Fraud Case

A former Caltech economist who helped design an air cleanup plan for Southern California’s largest firms to buy and sell pollution credits pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to defrauding a New York investment firm during a trade she brokered.

Anne Masters Sholtz, 40, of Bradbury faces a possible 27 to 33 months in prison when she is sentenced in July, federal prosecutors said.

Sholtz founded a Pasadena-based firm where companies could buy and sell pollution credits much like any commodity. It was in her role as a broker that prosecutors said she bilked the New York firm, AG Clean Air, out of $2.5 million to $5 million.