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SALT LAKE CITY — A Colorado doctor testified Wednesday that he would like to have known about Marc Sessions Jenson's legal and financial trouble before he bought into the Salt Lake businessman's failed luxury ski and golf resort.
"Anytime you make a decision, you need to base it on all the facts, whether it's business or medicine," Jeffrey Donner said in 3rd District Court. "To think that the primary people had this kind of history, a rap sheet basically, is unbelievable."
Donner is the state's key witness in the case against Marc Jenson and his brother Stephen R. Jenson who are charged with multiple counts of second-degree communications fraud, theft by deception and money laundering.
Prosecutor Tim Taylor said it comes down to whether the Jensons deceived investors who lost money in the $3.5 billion plan to turn the former Elk Meadows ski area into a private resort called the Mount Holly Club in Beaver County.
"That's what this case is about. It's not super complicated," Taylor told a five-man, five-woman jury during the nine-day trial's opening arguments.
Marc Jenson didn't tell Donner and two others, Tracy Fox and Shaun Rothwell, that he was a convicted federal felon, faced state securities fraud and racketeering charges, had filed chapter 7 bankruptcy and that his company was broke, Taylor said.
"They never said a word about it," said Donner, who paid $1.2 million for a building lot and club membership, which included access to private Jack Nicklaus golf courses around the country.
Donner testified that Marc Jenson told him the project was debt free and that there was no risk.
That's what this case is about. It's not super complicated.
–Tim Taylor, prosecutor
The Jensons' exclusive resort on 2,000 acres in the Tushar Mountains was to include 1,200 building lots starting at $1 million each, a Nicklaus-designed golf course and a ski area managed by Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety.
Though he said he "bone-shakingly" disagrees with Taylor's characterization of the case, Marc Jenson's attorney, Marcus Mumford, chose to defer his opening argument.
Stephen Jenson's attorney, Edward Stone, said in his opening statement that Marc Jenson's personal legal problems were not relevant because he was not an owner or officer in Mount Holly. Marc Jenson worked as a marketing consultant, he said.
Stone said Mount Holly crumbled because a firm called XE Capital didn't meet its contractual obligation to provide $6 million to $7 million for the development.
"Steve Jenson bankrupted himself trying to save this project," he said. "He tried to keep this project afloat, but he couldn't do it because XE Capital cut him off at the knees."
Under cross examination of Donner, Stone pointed out that Donner signed a membership agreement that included a paragraph saying the majority of the resort was not complete at the time.
Related:
Motion denied: Trial for Salt Lake businessman to begin Wednesday
Opening arguments are expected Wednesday in the fraud case against Marc Sessions Jenson after a judge denied his lawyer's request to delay the trial.Donner sued Nicklaus in federal court. The case was dismissed and is now with the appeals court.
Craig P. Burton, who owns a Salt Lake real estate investment company, testified that he initially told the Jensons they were "out of their minds" to propose the venture. But he said with "some persuasion," he became partners with them. He created CPB Development to acquire the land and plan out the project using funds from XE Capital.
Burton said he had a high opinion of Marc Jenson until CPB stopped getting money to pay its consultants and vendors and he was "left holding the bag."
"I've lost a great deal of money. Promises were made and not kept," said Burton, who estimated his losses at about $3 million.
Marc Jenson is at the center of the criminal charges against former Utah Attorneys General Mark Shurtleff and John Swallow. He claims they shook him down for money and favors during a trip to the posh Southern California villa where he was living in 2009. Jenson is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence in an unrelated case.
Mumford sent subpoenas to Shurtleff, Swallow and Ligety to testify in the nine-day trial, but their lawyers have filed objections. Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills intends to hear arguments on the subpoenas next Tuesday.
