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SALT LAKE CITY — The Federal Elections Commission officially added former Utah Attorney General John Swallow to a complaint Wednesday alleging he and businessman Jeremy Johnson made illegal campaign contributions.
FEC attorneys notified a U.S. District Court judge in December that they intended to name Swallow in the lawsuit pending against Johnson since last June.
The FEC accuses Swallow of arranging for Johnson to make illegal donations to former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, in 2009. Prosecutors claim Johnson contributed to the Shurtleff and Lee campaigns at Swallow's behest.
Johnson allegedly used "straw" donors to contribute $100,000 to Shurtleff's short-lived U.S. Senate campaign, $50,000 to Lee's Senate campaign and $20,000 to Reid's re-election campaign. Federal election law caps individual donations at $2,400.
Johnson contributed to the candidates hoping it would help protect his business interests from federal prosecution, according to the complaint.
In a court filing last month, Swallow's attorney Scott Williams wrote that the FEC is wrongly heaping allegations on the former Republican attorney general. He contends there is no evidence that Swallow knew of anyone who acted as a straw donor or anything about how Johnson made political contributions.
The FEC asks the court to stop Swallow and Johnson from donating to federal candidates in other people's names and impose thousands of dollars in fines and court costs.
Swallow already faces more than a dozen felony and misdemeanor charges, including bribery, accepting gifts, money laundering and evidence tampering in state court. Some of the allegations stem from his association with Johnson. Swallow has pleaded not guilty. A 3rd District judge last month canceled an April trial without setting a new date.
Johnson, meantime, is three weeks into a federal criminal fraud trial in connection with his now defunct Internet marketing enterprise, iWorks. An 86-count indictment against Johnson and two associates includes charges of conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
