Washington  - Bernard Madoff, whose alleged 50-billion-dollar investment fraud undermined individual and institutional investors around the globe, is to plead guilty this week, his lawyer said Tuesday.

The lawyer, Ira Sorkin, made the remarks at a federal court hearing in New York, Bloomberg financial news agency reported. The news confirmed reports from last week that Madoff was expected to enter a guilty plea.

The focus of Tuesday's hearings was on a separate issue, involving whether Sorkin had a conflict of interest in the case because of the lawyer's late father's investments.

Madoff, who was in the courtroom, waived the possible conflict of interest with his lawyer, meaning his case can go forward.

During the hearing, Sorkin answered a question from District Judge Denny Chin, who wanted to know if he expected Madoff to plead guilty on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported online.

"That's a reasonable expectation," Sorkin said.

Madoff, 70, who is free on 10 million dollars bail, is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty, Bloomberg reported.

Madoff faces 11 criminal charges including securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, three counts of money laundering and filing false statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said US assistant attorney general Marc Litt. (dpa)