NEW HAVEN, Conn. – An accountant who worked for a trash hauler at the center of a sweeping federal investigation of mob influence in the industry pleaded guilty Thursday to participating in price fixing for hauling services in Connecticut and New York.

Christopher Rayner, 46, of Wilmington, N.C., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in New Haven to racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and conspiring to commit wire fraud.

Rayner was the accountant for 25 trash companies in western Connecticut operated by James Galante. He was one of 33 people charged in the 2006 case. All but one have since pleaded guilty, prosecutors said.

Rayner admitted that he knew about the operation of a so-called “property rights system,” an illegal agreement between companies to fix prices for trash hauling services.

Rayner, Galante and others also defrauded the IRS by using Galante's personal returns and certain corporate returns, prosecutors said. The scheme involved placing no-show employees on the payrolls of trash hauling companies and deducting employees expenses.

Prosecutors alleged that Galante, who has pleaded guilty, paid alleged mobster Matthew “Matty the Horse” Ianniello to stifle competition.

Rayner's lawyer, Ross Garber, declined to comment.

He faces up to 45 years in prison and will have to forfeit $150,000 when he is sentenced Nov. 14.