Carolyn M. Gudmundson, who in December was charged with defrauding Microsoft through a complicated set of transactions orchestrated to channel payment for Microsoft and Expedia Internet domain names to herself, pleaded guilty to one of 18 charges last month and will be sentenced in April.

At the time the charges were brought, her attorney said she intended to plead not guilty.

Gudmundson struck a deal with the U.S. Attorney's Office that resulted in dismissal of the rest of the charges for wire and mail fraud. Her attorney, C. James Frush, said the agreement also stipulates that the amount of money she's charged with having stolen be described as less than $1 million. Before, it was described by the U.S. Attorney's Office as "over $1 million."

The agreement was approved by a judge in mid-January. I just found out about it today when a reader asked for an update on the status of the case and I checked the docket. Her original plea of not guilty would have put her in front of a jury starting earlier this week.

"She accepted responsibility for what happened and is prepared to pay whatever price the court requires," Frush said this afternoon.