The principal of an accounting firm pleaded guilty in a scheme that used a staffing firm to siphon money from a seafood processing company based in Gloucester, Mass., the US Attorney’s Office reported.

Michael Bruno, 62, of Melrose entered guilty pleas on Friday to conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and to commit wire fraud. Bruno faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Between 1999 and 2015, Bruno worked with three executives of the seafood processor — where he also served as a board member — in a plan for the company to retain a staffing firm called Continental Labor Team that was controlled by the seafood processing firm’s president.

Court records say the president owned a minority stake in the seafood processor with a majority stake being held by a seafood conglomerate based in Hong Kong.

However, the seafood processor’s own employees were charged with recruiting temporary workers for Continental, according to the US Attorney’s Office. And Continental’s profits from the seafood processor — its sole customer — were deposited into accounts controlled by the seafood processor’s president and distributed to two other executives at the seafood processor or corporate entities controlled by them which performed no services in exchange for those payments.

Bruno also acknowledged conspiring with the executives to understate their income on federal tax returns.

Sentencing for Bruno is set for March 8.