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SALT LAKE CITY — Tim Lawson — the man charged in the scandal that plagued one former Utah attorney general and continues to dog another — died Sunday of a pervasive infection, his family reported.
"My brother Tim passed away today surrounded by family and friends. He will be missed by so many," Jason Lawson wrote on Facebook. "He got an infection that spread through his body shutting down his organs."
In the post, Jason Lawson described his shock at this brother's passing and promised to help watch over his children.
Lawson was the CEO and founder of New Grains Gluten Free Bakery LLC since 2010 and made an unsuccessful run at the Republican nomination for governor in 2000. He was the father of seven children.
Funeral services are planned for Aug. 27.
Lawson, 51, was a friend to both former Utah Attorneys General Mark Shurtleff and John Swallow during the time that investigators say the politicians traded preferential treatment in lieu of favors for Utah businessmen facing criminal investigations.
Court documents indicate Lawson called himself a "fixer" for Shurtleff, using intimidation and aggressive tactics, mostly behind the scenes, on behalf of the former attorneys general. To one man, Lawson compared himself to Porter Rockwell, the bodyguard of LDS Church founder Joseph Smith.
According to court documents, Lawson in 2008 represented himself as a man close to Shurtleff to then-wealthy businessman Marc Sessions Jenson, who was facing securities fraud charges at the time and frequently referenced Lawson during a later fraud case where a jury acquitted him.
Lawson was charged in December 2013 with felony counts of pattern of unlawful activity, tax evasion, retaliation against a witness and obstructing justice, and he was ordered in April to stand trial.
Shurtleff and Swallow were hit in July 2014 with felony charges ranging from accepting bribes to destroying evidence. Charges against Shurtleff were dismissed last month, while the case against Swallow is ongoing.
Separate charges of communications fraud, theft by deception and making false or inconsistent material statements were filed against Lawson in February.
In those allegations, prosecutors said that Lawson, plagued by multiple health conditions, told the Social Security Administration's Office of Disability Adjudication and Review on April 13, 2012, that he had not worked since January of 2009, according to charging documents.
Between February of 2014 and June of 2015, Lawson received more than $32,000 from the Social Security Administration, and his seven children received more than $54,000, according to court records.
Jenson, however, told prosecutors that he paid Lawson $120,000 for consultant work in 2009, according to the charges, the same time that investigators say Jenson hosted Shurtleff, Swallow and Lawson at the posh Pelican Hill Resort in Southern California where he lived. In other court documents, prosecutors have said the money was actually paid to gain access to Shurtleff.
Court documents allege Lawson had a hand in coordinating a lenient plea deal that Shurtleff personally proposed for Jenson, requiring a plea in abeyance with no jail time or restitution.
A judge subsequently rejected the deal but approved an amended plea deal that had no jail time but included $4.1 million in restitution. Jenson was ordered to prison in November 2013 for failing to pay that restitution and was released on parole in October. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole declared in March that Jenson still hasn't paid restitution.
