A Newton therapist has agreed to plead guilty to secretly investing $600,000 of his patient’s money as part of an online investment romance scam, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

Eric Brown, 76, is charged with two counts of wire fraud and one count of engaging in an unlawful money transaction, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a press release.

In February 2022, a patient of Brown’s who’d been hit by a drunk driver and awarded $700,000 as part of a settlement asked him to serve as the trustee for the settlement, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. As the trustee, Brown had “exclusive control over the victim’s money and a duty to use it for the victim’s health, support and maintenance.”

Brown subsequently fell victim to an online investment romance scam, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. At the direction of the scammer, who was pretending to be in an online relationship with him, he depleted the trust without telling his patient why and invested $600,000 of their money overseas.

Brown is also accused of deceiving a relative of his into lending him $310,000 as a result of the scam, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. He lied to his relative, telling them he needed the money for improvements to an office building he owned when he, in fact, intended to invest the funds in the scam.

Brown faces up to 50 years in prison, nine years of supervised release and fines up to $1 million on the charges. His plea hearing has not yet been scheduled, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.