DENVER (AP) – A onetime helicopter-flying millionaire who helped launch a pay-to-play scandal involving two former Utah attorneys general will ask a federal appeals court Thursday to reverse his conviction for lying to banks to keep his online business afloat.
Jeremy Johnson is taking his long-running fraud case to the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after he was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison last year.
Johnson was once a colorful figure in Utah known as political donor and wealthy businessman who flew his personal helicopter to Haiti for earthquake relief. In 2011, he was arrested at a Phoenix airport carrying more than $26,000 in cash and a one-way plane ticket to Costa Rica.
He later claimed state Attorney General John Swallow arranged to pay then-U.S. Sen. Harry Reid to toss the investigation into Johnson’s business after the top lawman took gifts and luxury vacations from Johnson and others.
Reid denied any connection to the allegations and was never charged.