From the HERE City National Desk
EL PASO, Texas — A man who spent 11 years telling investors he was staging NBA preseason games will spend 51 months in federal prison, federal prosecutors in West Texas announced Friday.
Timothy France Johnson, 63, was also hit with a money judgment of $3,148,094.48. A separate hearing to set restitution for victims is on the calendar for Nov. 19.
Court records show he raised more than $3 million by pitching the games as a can’t-lose investment. No games were being promoted. Prosecutors said he produced phony contracts and bogus financial statements, promised returns with zero risk, and used fresh money to pay off earlier backers and cover his own bills, the classic shape of a Ponzi scheme.
Charges were first filed in 2024, listing wire fraud along with money laundering tied to the proceeds. In March he admitted guilt on the wire fraud charges.
The top federal prosecutor for western Texas said in a release that the defendant kept the fraud going for more than a decade to build a false image of success, persuading victims to hand over sums ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Aida Reyes, acting special agent in charge of the FBI field office in El Paso, said the sentence brings accountability even though the harm to victims cannot be reversed.
Section: More Washington DC crime news
Filed under: Washington DC Crime News
