A New York woman admitted to defrauding Wesley Edens, a co-founder of Fortress Investment Group and co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks, resolving allegations that she had extorted the billionaire and swindled two other men.

Changli “Sophia” Luo, a China-born entrepreneur, pleaded guilty Tuesday to wire fraud during a federal court hearing in Manhattan, saying she had lied to Edens when she told him she had recorded a sexual encounter they had in her home. Luo, 46 years old, told a judge she used the threat of a recording to try to obtain money from Edens, referred to in court as Victim-1.

The Wall Street Journal reported in May that Edens, who isn’t named in court filings, is that victim. The next month, prosecutors brought a new indictment charging Luo with using sex to steal from two additional victims. Luo, who met Edens and one of the other men on LinkedIn, admitted in court to the allegations involving all three men.

“I deeply regret engaging in this conduct, and I knew that my conduct was wrong,” she said.

The plea resolved six other criminal counts Luo faced, including charges that she tried to extort more than $1 billion from Edens and had stolen the credit card information of two other romantic partners. As part of her plea deal, she agreed to pay $2 million in financial penalties.

Her sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 26. While a judge will determine her punishment, prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed that a sentence between three and four years in prison would be appropriate.

Defense attorney Arthur Aidala said Luo, after considerable discussion with family and friends, concluded it was in everyone’s best interest for her to accept responsibility for her conduct.

Spokesmen for Edens and the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment. The Edens spokesman previously said the billionaire reached out to law enforcement out of concern for the safety of himself and his family.

Federal agents arrested Luo in 2025 at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport as she was attempting to board a flight to China. Prosecutors said Luo first reached out to Edens on LinkedIn, then, after several in-person get-togethers, tried to shake him down by threatening to publicize videos and photos of him having sex with her.

Prosecutors said Luo reached out to Edens’s family members, including his current wife and ex-wife, and threatened to go to the media. In one message included in court documents, Luo wrote to Edens that “business partners will learn about you and your misdeeds from these interviews.”Edens, 64 years old, who had divorced his longtime wife before meeting Luo, is known for unusual investments, including subprime loans after the 2008-09 financial crisis and a private passenger railway in Florida. In 2018, he bought a majority stake in the then-struggling English soccer club Aston Villa.

Luo, a divorcee, was the founder of a Manhattan-based nonprofit that said it produced video interviews with economists and environmentalists.

Prosecutors said she and the second victim went on a date in Manhattan, where she offered to have sex with the man in exchange for him buying her a $2,000 Apple computer. After their encounter, Luo secretly photographed his credit card and later used it to make a $4,500 online purchase from Apple, according to prosecutors.

She met the third victim, prosecutors said, after she cold-called him to solicit donations for her nonprofit.

Write to Corinne Ramey at corinne.ramey@wsj.com and James Fanelli at james.fanelli@wsj.com