A Nashua, New Hampshire man pleaded guilty recently in Boston in connection with defrauding investors in a purported water resource company and laundering money obtained through various online fraud schemes.

Edmond P. LaFrance, pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with two counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering.

LaFrance solicited investments and loans for his shell company, Natural Waters, from 2012 to 2013. The company fraudulently claimed to buy and sell mineral water in bulk. Instead, LaFrance used a large portion of the investor money for his own uses or transferred to co-conspirators. The indictment further alleged that around 2015, LaFrance laundered money for various online fraud schemes being perpetrated by individuals located primarily outside of the United States. LaFrance allegedly accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from people he did not know and wired the money to third parties whose identities were concealed from the alleged victims.

In 1990, LaFrance was convicted in federal court of structuring currency transactions, making false statements and conspiring to defraud the United States. In 2007, he was convicted a second time of wire fraud and making false statements.

He faces up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000 and restitution, if convicted of wire fraud. The charge of money laundering provides a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $500,000 and restitution.