| Feds freeze assets of Johnson | |
|
Scott Kerbs skerbs@thespectrum.com The Spectrum | |
ST. GEORGE - A federal judge has frozen assets belonging to St. George resident Jeremy Johnson, who is known locally for assisting in search and rescue operations, but is named in a Federal Trade Commission complaint alleging illegal business practices. U.S. District Court Judge Kent J. Dawson approved a motion for a temporary restraining order Jan. 13 filed by the FTC, freezing the assets of the local businessman and 61 corporations in the process. Johnson is one of 10 defendants facing charges related to allegedly victimizing hundreds of thousands of consumers by charging them for goods and services without their permission through Internet companies. Duane Fielding, Andy Johnson, Loyd Johnston, Scott Leavitt, Scott Muir, Bryce Payne, Kevin Pilon, Ryan Riddle and Terrason Spinks are also named as defendants in the U.S. District Court case. "We want to make certain that there are funds available to return to consumers who were victimized by what we see as a scam," FTC attorney Collot Guerard said Thursday. The agency alleges consumers lost $275 million. The FTC alleges Johnson and the other defendants made millions through iWorks and related Internet companies "by luring consumers into 'trial' memberships for bogus government-grant and money-making schemes and then repeatedly charging them monthly fees for these and other memberships that they never signed up for." Johnson's attorney Michael Shaw, of Jones Waldo in St. George, described the FTC's efforts to freeze Johnson's assets as "bullying" and said he expects the temporary restraining order to have a significant impact on his client. "I think that it's a very sad day whenever our government can make some allegations against someone and then sequester their assets to cripple their ability to defend against those allegations," he said. With Johnson's assets frozen, Shaw said the court ruling would likely prevent him from lending helicopter support to local search and rescue operations. "Assets like the helicopter would be sequestered and held by the receiver," he said. While the process has been arduous for Johnson, Shaw said his client believes the FTC's allegations will ultimately be proven false. "Jeremy is not afraid of responding to the allegations and fighting a fair fight," he said. "It's just unfortunate that they won't play on a level playing field." Shaw said he believes both Johnson and iWorks have not violated any of the FTC's "vague and ambiguous" standards. "iWorks was stellar in their compliance efforts," Shaw said, adding that Johnson turned down a number of lucrative business arrangements because prospective business partners failed to meet regulations. "In my legal opinion, the FTC is dead wrong." Shaw said he plans to file paperwork with the court opposing the decision to freeze Johnson's assets. In a legal document filed with the Court, the FTC refers to Johnson as the alleged "mastermind" of the iWorks "scheme" that scammed as many as 15,000 customers per day at the height of its popularity, The FTC alleges Johnson "received $48 million from his well-oiled fraud machine." Shaw criticized the FTC for what he described as excessive use of emotionally charged language within legal documents, calling the practice unnecessary and unprofessional. "Comments like that are usually meant to be emotionally damaging, not legally persuasive," he said. "It almost sounds like it's personal." Guerard said the court's decision to grant the temporary restraining order serves to underscore the strength of the FTC's case. "In order to get a temporary restraining order, we have to show that we are likely to succeed," she said. A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for Jan. 25 in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, according to court documents. Guerard said the FTC hopes to convince the court to continue the freeze on Johnson's assets during next week's hearing. While Johnson is a resident of Utah, Guerard said the FTC chose to bring the case to Nevada because many of the companies named in the complaint are based in the state. She said many alleged victims are also residents of Nevada. | |
|
TheSpectrum.com Originally published January 21, 2011 | |
| Back | |
| For more information email: | |
