BRIDGEPORT — The former chief executive officer of troubled nursing-home chain Haven Healthcare pleaded guilty January 5 to federal charges that he improperly used money intended for nursing home improvements to purchase real estate.

Raymond Termini, 48, of Middletown pleaded guilty to charges that he defrauded a real estate investment firm that owned several Haven homes and diverted  $6 million loan obtained to reduce Haven’s debt load.

The investment firm, Omega Healthcare Investors, agreed to provide up to $2 million to improve fire sprinklers in Haven nursing homes in West Haven and Griswold. Termini also secured a $6 million loan from Allied Capital Corp. ostensibly to pay off some of Haven’s indebtedness. .Instead, according to his plea, he diverted the money to other purposes, including purchasing real estate in the name of his wife. As part of the plea, which was entered at U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, Termini agreed to forfeit $500,000 in the form of a lien on property owned by companies controlled by his wife.

Termini pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of engaging in a “monetary transaction in property derived from specified unlawful activity.”

When he is sentenced March 26, Termini could face up to 15 years in prison and maximum fines of $250,000 on each count.