Prominent Miami businessman Gaston E. Cantens pleaded guilty Wednesday to defrauding hundreds of investors who lost tens of millions of dollars. He now faces up to five years in federal prison.

During his plea hearing in Miami federal court, Cantens, 73, drew the wrath of some investors who wanted to condemn him but were prevented from doing so until his sentencing on April 4.

Cantens remains free on a $150,000 bond co-signed by his son, Gaston I. Cantens, a former Florida legislator.

More than 150 investors sank $135 million into Cantens’ financial deals through his company, Royal West Properties, between 2003 and 2008. They lost $47 million as Cantens took their money, issued high-interest notes with purported guarantees and poured all of the proceeds into speculative real estate transactions in southwest Florida, a region pounded after the bust.

Eduardo Arango, 80, of Kendall, a retired attorney who attended the hearing using a walker, said he and his wife were victims of Cantens’ investment scam, losing more than $800,000.

Arango called the federal government’s plea agreement with Cantens, which caps his punishment at five years, a “sweetheart deal.” He told reporters outside the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams that Cantens’ scam ruined the lives of many elderly and religious people who came to know him through Belén Jesuit Preparatory School and mutual friends.

“I can survive because I have some income,” said Arango, who invested the profit from the sale of his Kendall home in 2008 with Cantens. “But there are a lot of widows who lost everything. I cry for them.”

Arango’s former Kendall neighbor, Henry Castro, who along with his wife lost more than $2 million investing with Cantens, criticized the five-year maximum sentence, saying: “We want to see proper punishment.”

Under federal sentencing guidelines for his fraud offense, Cantens would face a potentially harsher sentence — 10 years or more. But because of the agreement allowing him to plead to one conspiracy count, the judge’s authority is limited to the five-year maximum sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Davidson told the judge that some of the victims think the plea agreement is “too lenient” while others are “satisfied” that Cantens was prosecuted.

Cantens’ attorney, Bruce Lehr, said outside the courtroom that his client was a “hard-working” businessman who had invested in real estate for 30 years, suffered reversals during the recession and tried to save investors’ money. “None of these millions went into his pockets,” Lehr said. “He lost everything.”

Asked about the plea deal, Lehr said the U.S. attorney’s office has a history of being tough on white-collar criminals, noting the agreement was “fair and reasonable.”