The former CEO of Manhattan’s Hospital for Special Surgery pleaded guilty today to pocketing nearly $300,000 in kickbacks from a subordinate staffer in exchange for negotiating payment of her annual bonus.

John Reynolds, 64, of Venice, Fla., copped the plea before a magistrate judge in Manhattan federal court, admitting to committing wire fraud and making false statements to law enforcement regarding a scheme that netted him $298,500 between 2000 and 2005.

He admitted accepting the kickbacks from then-staffer Maryellen Keenan – who also had authority to do outside consulting work at the time – and then hiding the financial arrangement from the hospital’s board of directors.

“I knew my arrangement with Ms. Keenan would not be permitted,” Reynolds told the judge.

Reynolds was initially charged by the feds in January with netting $1.4 million in kickbacks between 1996 to 2007 through three separate schemes.

He had facing up to 25 years behind bars and $500,000 in fines, but under the sentencing guidelines of the plea deal, his recommended jail time is 27 to 33 months with a fine of $6,000 to $60,000.

Reynolds, who will be sentenced Nov. 7, will also have to fork over $718,500. He and his lawyer, Michael Grudberg, declined to comment on the deal afterwards.

The hearing stretched somewhat long in part because Reynolds admitted suffering from long- and short-term memory loss, so Magistrate Judge Debra C. Freeman repeatedly went over the facts of the case and the plea deal to be sure Reynolds knew what he was agreeing to.

“I’m talking with a neurologist. I just don’t recall a lot of things,” Reynolds told Freeman. “I wish my wife were here.”

Reynolds spent 22 years as a hospital administrator, the last dozen as its chief executive officer before leaving in 2008.

“John Reynolds demonstrated a shocking disregard for his obligations as the leader of a world-renowned New York hospital when he exploited his position to line his own pockets and later lied about it to law enforcement,” US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.

A hospital worker answering the phone at Keenan’s old number said she hasn’t worked for there in “years.”