Lexington native convicted of fraud over $1 billion company faces new charges
A
A federal grand jury in
The supervision included a requirement for Johnson to give his probation officer financial information, including a net worth statement and a monthly cash flow statement. The grand jury charged that Johnson did not disclose his control and use of a company’s bank account. The charges identified the business only as
The indictment alleges Johnson identified three people as contractors for
The charges carry a maximum penalty of up to five years each.
The court file does not list an attorney for Johnson, and attorneys who represented him in a related matter earlier this year were not available for comment.
Johnson, a
He founded PurchasePro, a company that provided software to allow businesses to buy and sell with one another over the internet.
After it went public in 1999, the company reached a market capitalization of
Johnson, who is about 61 now, had a mansion in
More than
Federal authorities later charged that Johnson had falsely inflated the value of PurchasePro during a deal with American Online.
Convicted of fraud
Johnson and six other PurchasePro employees were convicted in the case and AOL reportedly paid
Johnson was convicted of conspiracy, securities fraud, witness tampering and obstructing an official proceeding, according to court records.
He was ordered to pay
Johnson was almost at the end of his period of supervision when the probation office accused him in
Johnson, who had paid
Johnson also allegedly didn’t report an interest in several companies.
Johnson’s deception interfered with the assessment of his ability to pay restitution, Assistant
‘Outlandish’ allegations
Johnson said he had not committed a reporting violation because he was gambling corporate money, not his own, but Chief U.S. District Judge
He would have completed his latest period of supervision in September, according to one court document.
Earlier this year, attorneys for Johnson asked to transfer his supervision from
Johnson said in an affidavit with the motion that his relationship with his probation officer was adversarial and that the officer was trying to sabotage his job offer.
“He’s focused on trying to find or manufacture a violation instead of helping me transition back into society,” Johnson said.
In a response, the prosecutor called the allegations “outlandish” and said they suggested his main motive for requesting a transfer “is relaxed oversight of his activities.”
McCaffrey said Johnson “has a documented history of lying to courts, investigators, and judicial officers.”
The government opposed the transfer, and Reeves denied it.
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