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An emotional Marc Sessions Jenson — on trial for fraud and money laundering — says former Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff told him in a May 2008 telephone call precisely what steps the businessman should take to resolve an outstanding criminal case brought against him by the state.

"He told me, 'The way you are going to resolve this case is not through your lawyers,'" a tearful Jenson told a 3rd District Court jury late Friday. "He told me, 'The way you are going to resolve this is through Tim Lawson. Make sure you take care of him.'"

The next day, he gave Lawson, who had described himself as Shurtleff's "enforcer," a sum of about $5,000 or $10,000, Jenson testified. He did it, he said, to continue his access to Shurtleff and in hopes of resolving the allegations that had devastated his Murray-based money-lending business and could cripple his plans to turn a bankrupt ski resort near Beaver into a new private luxury development.

A year later, Jenson resolved the securities fraud case through a plea in abeyance, and he didn't go to prison until 2011 after failing to pay some $4 million in restitution.

Jenson, 54, has since pleaded not guilty to second-degree felony charges of fraud, money laundering and theft by deception in connection with the failed Mount Holly golf and ski resort. The case was filed by the Utah attorney general's office in 2011, when Shurtleff was still at the helm.

The trial wrapped its second week on Friday and Jenson is expected to take the stand again on Tuesday when it resumes. If he is convicted of the charges, Jenson faces a prison term up to 15 years on each of the eight counts. 

In an email to The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday evening, Shurtleff's attorney Richard Van Wagoner declined to comment on the allegations Jenson made from the stand.

Prosecutors contend that when selling the planned members-only Mount Holly project — with 1,200 luxury homes, a ski resort and Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course — Jenson failed to disclose required information to investors, including that they were near bankruptcy, had been sued over the project and had past convictions for securities fraud and tax evasion.

Jenson's defense attorney, Marcus Mumford, contends the resort failed because its key financial backer, a New York hedge fund named XE Capital, backed away from its promises and left Jenson holding the bag.

He also contends that at its heart, the case is a payback for Jenson's refusal to bend to demands from Shurtleff and former Attorney General John Swallow for money and favors.

Jenson first raised those allegations from prison in 2013 and quickly became a key figure in the bribery and corruption investigation that left Shurtleff and Swallow charged with multiple felonies in July 2014. They both maintain their innocence.

On Friday, Jenson said that once he'd resolved the securities case, he decided to move to California and market Mount Holly from a distance. Shurtleff, who was familiar with the plans for the resort, also wanted introductions to the high-profile monied friends who had made appeals for leniency on Jenson's behalf while the deal was negotiated, Jenson said.

Jenson didn't identify those people by name, but said he believed their stature in religious organizations and business appeared to make an impression on Shurtleff. "I think he was enamored of it," Jenson said.

Shurtleff's name has come up frequently in court testimony over the past seven days. Swallow's, was noticeably absent until the Friday morning testimony from Eric Pearson, an attorney who represented Mount Holly.

Swallow's name appears at the bottom of a "talking points" style document outlining Jenson's past legal and financial problems. Pearson said the document was drafted to aid Jenson in answering questions about his history.

When asked by Mumford why Swallow, then a private attorney, appears on the list, Pearson said Swallow "had acted at times as a liaison between Mr. Jenson and Mr. Shurtleff."

Pearson said he understood Swallow was "assisting" Jenson — not specifically as an attorney or as a representative of the attorney general's office — but as someone who had a relationship with then-Attorney General Shurtleff and "could get his ear."

Court testimony didn't expand on the Jenson-Swallow relationship, but an affidavit filed in the case says the two were introduced sometime between 2007 and 2009. Swallow described himself as Shurtleff's "hand picked successor" and asked Jenson to hire him and promised to aid Jenson in resolving an ongoing 2005 securities fraud case filed by the attorney general's office, the documents state. 

"He told me he knew I was innocent of the charges brought against me, and he told me, 'When I get into the [attorney general's] office, you're going to need me,' " the affidavit states. 

In exchange for help, according to the affidavit, Jenson agreed to give Swallow a building lot in the Mount Holly project, which court papers say was valued at more than a million dollars. 

Earlier in the day, Pearson also said claims by investors that they had been duped by Jenson were false. He explained in detail the nine different documents prospective members were asked to review before signing any contracts or cutting any checks. Those documents included disclaimers about the status of the resort's development and accepting certificates for future home sites that were not tied to specific parcels.

And, Pearson said, one investor's claim that he had been misled by Jenson was a lie. Pearson read aloud from an email he had sent to another attorney.

"He was 100 percent aware of the status of the resort … 100 percent aware of Marc's record and the then-pending proceedings against Marc," the email states. "There was no fraud or misappropriation of company funds at Mount Holly."