Utah attorney general involved in money extortion, claims convict
A fraudster serving 10 years in prison has alleged that two former attorney generals accepted thousands of dollars worth of free meals, hotel stays and other expenses from him after putting him behind bars.
Businessman Marc Jenson, who is serving time for swindling
millions of dollars from investors, claims he has receipts proving
that former Utah Attorney Gen. Mark Shurtleff and his successor,
John Swallow, accepted expenses on his behalf.
“I’m telling you right now: they were extorting me, and they
were from the very beginning,” Jenson told the Salt Lake
Tribune in an interview from prison. The former businessman was
charged with six felonies and was imprisoned after failing to pay
$4 million in restitution.
Jenson claims that Shurtleff and Swallow pressured him to
provide them with costly vacations, meals and other expenses. The
current and former attorney generals allegedly promised to help the
businessman with his legal troubles in exchange for lavish
gifts.
The requests allegedly began after Jenson was convicted in 2009,
but before he was imprisoned for failing to provide the
restitution.
Shurtleff and Swallow vacationed at Pelican Hill, an upscale
southern California resort where Jenson had his own villa, on
multiple occasions. The fraudster says his receipts show both men
signing for thousands of dollars worth of food, massages, golf
outings, and supplies at the Newport Beach resort.
Jenson also claims that Shurtleff forced him to spend $250,000
on a phantom book deal and make consulting payments to a friend of
his. Swallow allegedly also demanded a share an upscale $3.5
billion resort that Jenson had planned to establish in Beaver
County, Pa.
Jenson said he was “scared to death” of the former attorney
general and his successor. He says the men told him that if he had
donated to Shurtleff’s campaign, they would never have prosecuted
him in the first place.
But in response to these allegations, which Jenson relayed to
the FBI, they denied having ever accepting expenses from the
fraudster and claim he is acting out of revenge.
“I was responsible for the investigation, conviction and
sentencing of Jenson,” Shurtleff told the Tribune. ” … He
has sworn revenge. I suggest you consider carefully whether to
believe a desperate, convicted fraudster.”
Tim Lawson, a close friend of Shurtleff, allegedly also accepted
money and ‘gifts’ from Jenson, including a down payment for a piano
and $10,000 in cash. But Lawson claims that nothing the fraudster
says is true.
“Jenson is in prison because he is a pathological liar,”
Lawson said, “because he lied to the people he stole money
from.”
But if the allegations are proven to the true, the news will
strike another blow against Swallow, who was last
This article originally appeared on : RT
Source: http://rinf.com/alt-news/breaking-news/utah-attorney-general-involved-in-money-extortion-claims-convict/33271/
