A former employee of the medical examiner’s office pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court to charges she defrauded the city office of more than $10 million received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

In 2005, the examiner’s former director of records, Rosa Abreu, was charged along with another employee, Natarajan Venkataram, of funneling contracts and payments to shell companies that they established, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Federal prosecutors estimate the city’s losses in the fraud at more than $10 million.

After the attacks, the office received millions of dollars from FEMA earmarked for the purchase of computer hardware, software applications, and support services to aid in identifying nearly 3,000 victims. Abreu and Mr. Venkataram were accused of rerouting some of the funds to the bank accounts of the shell companies and to contractors that did little or none of the assigned work.

Yesterday, Abreu pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, embezzlement, and money laundering; she faces a maximum of 75 years in prison. She also will be required to pay as much as $2 million in fines, in addition to paying restitution.

Abreu will be sentenced at a later date.