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SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge on Monday declined to throw out fraud charges against three men who worked with Internet marketer Jeremy Johnson.
Bryce Payne, Ryan Riddle and Scott Leavitt claimed government prosecutors granted them immunity as part of failed plea agreement with Johnson in January 2013.
But U.S. District Judge David Nuffer ruled that there was never an agreement not to prosecute them without Johnson pleading guilty, which he did not do. Prosecutors, he said, agreed not to go after Johnson's wife, mother, father, brother and uncle, but not Payne, Riddle and Leavitt.
Defense attorneys unsuccessfully argued that prosecutor Brent Ward gave his word that the three would not be indicted regardless of whether Johnson pleaded guilty.
Johnson, Payne, Riddle and Leavitt are named in an 86-count fraud indictment relating to Johnson's Internet marketing company, iWorks. They are scheduled to go to trial in February.
