Michael J. Nolan, 47, pleaded guilty in federal court in Bridgeport of making the false filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in violation of the federal securities laws. United Rentals, based in Greenwich, rents equipment ranging from heavy machines to hand tools.

Nolan, of Raleigh, N.C., faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine up to about $22 million. He will also be required to pay restitution of $11.1 million.

In December 2000, Nolan and others engaged in transactions designed to falsely inflate the United Rentals' earnings per share by improperly recognizing millions of dollars in additional profit for the fourth quarter of 2000 and the full year 2000, authorities said.

Between March 2001 and March 2002, Nolan and others benefited personally from the company's falsely inflated earnings per share by selling a substantial amount of the company's stock at a fraudulently inflated price, authorities said. Nolan recognized a profit to himself of $11.1 million through these stock sales, prosecutors said.

"Federal law enforcement is dedicated to protecting the integrity of the capital markets and the investing public from manipulative business practices engaged in by corporate insiders," said U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor. "This investigation is ongoing."

In an effort to meet a revised earnings per share forecast, Nolan and others fraudulently inflated the company's earnings per share numbers for the fourth quarter 2000 and the full year 2000 by engaging in a transaction that the company improperly accounted for as a minor sale leaseback, authorities said.

Nolan and others used the transaction to fraudulently recognize approximately $25.3 million in revenue and $12.2 million in profit for the company in the fourth quarter 2000, prosecutors said.

As a result of the fraudulent recognition of revenue and profit, United Rentals was able to meet revised earnings per share numbers that had been announced in a Dec. 18, 2000, press release, prosecutors said.

"United Rentals has been fully cooperating with the SEC and the United States Attorney's Office in these matters and will continue to do so," company spokesman Joel Steinhaus said Wednesday.

He said the events that led to the investigation and Wednesday's guilty plea were "extensively described" in the company's Special Committee's findings and restated financial statements, both publicly filed in the first quarter of 2006.

United Rentals shares fell 88 cents, or nearly 4 percent, to $22.55, on Wednesday.