Businessman in fraud case ties Utah AG to scheme

 
No Author Published: January 12, 2013    Comment on this article Leave a comment

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah businessman accused of running a fraudulent $350 million software scheme says the state attorney general arranged a deal to pay Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to make a federal investigation into the software business disappear.

photo - FILE -This undated file photo provided by the Davis County Jail, shows Jeremy Johnson, a Utah businessman accused of running a $350 million fraud scheme through his company is planning changing his plea Friday Jan. 11, 2013. Federal prosecutors have charged Johnson with one count of mail fraud in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, and if convicted he faces up to 20 years in prison. (AP Photo/ Davis County Jail, File)
FILE -This undated file photo provided by the Davis County Jail, shows Jeremy Johnson, a Utah businessman accused of running a $350 million fraud scheme through his company is planning changing his plea Friday Jan. 11, 2013. Federal prosecutors have charged Johnson with one count of mail fraud in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, and if convicted he faces up to 20 years in prison. (AP Photo/ Davis County Jail, File)

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St. George businessman Jeremy Johnson, who's accused of billing hundreds of thousands of consumers for products they never ordered, told The Salt Lake Tribune that newly elected Attorney General John Swallow set up a deal in 2010 for Johnson to pay $600,000 to people connected to Reid.

Johnson says be believed that Reid, a Nevada senator, might intervene in the Federal Trade Commission's investigation.

Swallow strongly denies the allegations and maintains he only offered to connect Johnson with a lobbying firm. At the time, he was serving as Utah's chief deputy attorney general.

The FBI and Reid's office would not comment on the allegations.

Federal prosecutors initially charged Johnson, 37, with one count of mail fraud. He was set to enter a guilty plea Friday to two additional charges of bank fraud and money laundering as part of an agreement with the government.

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