BOSTON (AP) – The owner of a Boston business news radio station sent a tape to federal securities regulators in which he admitted buying the station with millions of dollars he stole from client deposits with his investment management business, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges.

After sending the tape by delivery service, Bradford C. Bleidt attempted suicide late Wednesday or early Thursday, a spokesman for station WBIX-AM told The Associated Press. Bleidt, 50, remained in critical condition Sunday at a Boston hospital, WBIX spokesman George Regan said.

The suicide attempt came after Bleidt had attended a Wednesday evening party at a downtown Boston hotel in celebration of the station’s new 24-hour format and new ownership that is buying WBIX in a deal expected to close this month.

A SEC civil complaint filed in U.S. District Court on Friday says a tape delivered earlier that day contained a confession from Bleidt, who also runs a Boston-based financial planning firm called Allocation Plus Asset Management Co. Inc.

On the tape, Bleidt said he agreed to buy WBIX in 2002 with money diverted from client business accounts, and had stolen money for years before purchasing the station.

“He’s admitting to having stolen tens of millions of dollars over 20 years,” Silvestre Fontes, senior counsel for the SEC’s Boston office, told the AP on Sunday.

Earlier this month, a client, identified by SEC officials as a Greek Orthodox church, asked for the return of $1.5 million it had invested through the investment business, Bleidt said on the tape.

“There is a client that needs a million and half dollars wired into their account that’s supposed to be there this morning, and obviously, it’s not going to be there this morning because the money’s gone. I stole it. I used it to buy a radio station, believe it or not,” Bleidt said on the tape, portions of which are quoted in the complaint.

WBIX spokesman Regan did not offer details on the suicide attempt.

He also declined to comment on the SEC complaint, first reported Sunday in the Boston Sunday Globe and Boston Sunday Herald.

“Brad is a very good person,” Regan said. “It’s just been a horrific nightmare for the family. No one knows exactly what happened.”

A phone message left at the Bleidt home in Manchester-by-the-Sea was not immediately returned Sunday. Police in the community north of Boston also did not return a message.

Bleidt’s wife, Bonnie, is the on-air host of a show on WBIX and is the station president.

Bleidt agreed to buy the station in November 2002 and planned to sell it this year to Christopher Egan, son of EMC Corp. chairman and founder Richard Egan.

On the tape, Bleidt apologized for stealing from clients.

“I”m deeply sorry, and I don’t expect to ever be forgiven for this,” he said, according to the SEC complaint. “I’m going to hell, and I’ve been in hell for years, just with the terror knowing what I’ve done and the guilt of who I’m doing it to.”

On the tape, Bleidt said for years he had taken money from new clients’ investment accounts and deposited them into a personal account at Sovereign Bank. He said he was cautious until recently to ensure he had enough cash on hand if a client decided to withdraw investment money.

Bleidt said none of his co-workers were aware of his theft.

On Friday, the SEC won a temporary court order at an emergency hearing in U.S. District Court that freezes Bleidt’s personal assets and those of his investment business, Fontes said.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner will be asked to set a date for a hearing at which the temporary order could remain in effect until the case is resolved, Fontes said.

Bleidt’s assets will be put under control of a receiver who will look at their status and value, and investigators will scour Bleidt’s records to review whether in fact investors had been cheated out of the millions of dollars Bleidt claimed.

SEC investigators could decide to refer the case to federal prosecutors for possible criminal charges, Fontes said.

AP-ES-11-14-04 1419EST