Stewart D Nozette, the Chevy Chase scientist accused last week of attempted espionage, pleaded guilty in January to overbilling NASA and the Defense Department more than $265,000 for contracting work, according to court records unsealed last Friday.

Nozette, 52, was arrested last week by federal authorities and accused of selling sensitive government secrets for $11,000 to an FBI agent posing as an Israeli intelligence operative. He faces a sentence of up to life in prison if convicted of attempted espionage.

It is not the first time Nozette has faced legal jeopardy. In 2006, the NASA inspector general began investigating allegations that Nozette’s nonprofit firm, the Alliance for Competitive Technology, was overbilling the space agency. Nozette was the founder, president and treasurer of the firm, which he ran from his Chevy Chase house.

According to the unsealed court documents, Nozette was charged with defrauding the government and tax evasion and pleaded guilty in January to overbilling the government $265,205 for work he and an employee did for NASA and the Defense Department between 2000 and 2006.

Nozette admitted that he used that money to help pay personal credit card bills, car loans and maintenance costs for his swimming pool. He faced at least two years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, according to the plea papers.

Last year or early this year, Nozette told a colleague that he would flee to India or Israel if the government tried to put him in jail in the fraud case, according to law enforcement officials. He told the colleague that he would share “everything” he knew with Israeli and Indian officials, the authorities said.

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