A former real estate developer who is awaiting sentencing for defrauding a Pittsburgh-based bank might avoid prison after serving as an FBI informant in a case of black-market organ trafficking.

The 38-year-old was arrested in May of 2006 for bank fraud in a case involving Pittsburgh's PNC Bank. He pleaded guilty to the charge in a federal court in 2009 and was released on a $10 million bond. His sentencing has been delayed more than a year and a half.

At his scheduled sentencing hearing, his attorney plans to ask that the defendant be spared prison time in exchange for his cooperation in the organ trafficking case.

In that case, a New York man became the first person in the U.S. ever convicted of trafficking in human organs. He reportedly illegally brokered three kidney transplants for ill people, receiving more than $400,000 in the process, according to prosecutors.

The 60-year-old is said to be an Israeli citizen living in New York. He reportedly tried to set up a kidney sale to the FBI informant.

The older man pleaded guilty in federal court to three counts of organ trafficking and a single count of conspiracy.

He faces up to five years in prison on each of the four counts. Sentencing is scheduled for February.

In 1984, the United States made it illegal to sell human organs.

The man had allegedly arranged the sale of healthy organs from healthy donors to ailing recipients who were on kidney transplant waiting lists.

The man awaiting sentencing for fraud apparently wore a wire for the FBI in meetings about the organs, claiming to be looking for a kidney for an uncle on dialysis.

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "New York man admits brokering illegal kidney transplants for three," Oct. 28, 2011