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SALT LAKE CITY — Former St. George businessman and millionaire Jeremy Johnson stepped into his latest role Tuesday, acting as his own attorney as he heads to trial charged with fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.
"I understand you are pro-se in this matter?" U.S. District Judge David Nuffer asked Johnson as the pretrial conference began.
"I believe so, your honor," replied Johnson, who is also a key witness in the criminal cases against former Utah Attorneys General John Swallow and Mark Shurtleff.
Johnson leaned forward and listened intently as Nuffer questioned prosecutors and attorneys for his three co-defendants about preparation for the trial, a thick volume of the Georgetown Law Journal spread in front of him. Johnson's responses to the judge were few, saying he didn't anticipate problems bringing motions before the court — because he doesn't intend to file that many anyway — and explaining he wasn't sure how long he will need for opening arguments.
"I honestly don't know what I'm allowed to say yet, Judge," Johnson answered. "I'll do some research, though."
In a lengthy motion filed Monday, Johnson declined a final option from Magistrate Judge Paul Warner to back down from his request to begin representing himself with less than a month before the trial begins. The motion formalized his dismissal of his latest set of lawyers, Greg and Rebecca Skordas, citing a perceived conflict of interest because Rebecca Skordas briefly represented a government witness in the case before representing Johnson.
The Skordases were Johnson's third set of attorneys since he was first charged in 2011. He has petitioned twice before to represent himself.
Referring to himself in the third person, Johnson wrote in the motion, "Mr. Johnson would prefer to be at the wheel and go down knowing that he did the best he could and did everything in his power to weather the storm."
The Skordases sat in the courtroom gallery for the beginning of Tuesday's hearing, then left without further comment. In a separate hearing immediately afterward, Warner informed Johnson he had spoken to Greg Skordas, who agreed to return as standby counsel in the case.
The judge went on clarify that, as standby counsel, Skordas will advise Johnson and answer questions, but all responsibility will be on Johnson when it comes to issues like writing and filing motions or presenting in the courtroom.
"Standby counsel would not be representing you, that is not their role. Their role is to advise you and assist you," Warner said. "That means you cannot look to Mr. Skordas to do the work on your case."
Johnson left the federal courthouse in good spirits Tuesday, smiling but declining comment on the case.
"I'm smiling," he said, chuckling. "I'd love to talk about it, if I was able. I'll have an angry judge if I do."
Selection for a jury to consider the 86-count indictment begins Feb. 1. Prosecutors said Tuesday they anticipate it will take three weeks to lay out their case against Johnson and his business partners.
Additionally, Johnson already represents himself in a parallel Federal Trade Commission case against him in Nevada. The two-week trial there was to begin this month, but a federal judge this week pushed it back to March 28.
Johnson and his three co-defendants — Bryce Payne, Ryan Riddle and Scott Leavitt — face dozens of fraud charges in connection with Johnson's now defunct multimillion dollar Internet marketing company, iWorks. They're accused of setting up shell companies to process consumer credit and debit cards when other accounts were closed by credit card issuers because of a large number of chargebacks.
