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A federal magistrate said he will grant no more postponements of the five-week jury trial set to begin Sept. 14 for St. George businessman Jeremy Johnson and four former employees and managers of his online marketing company I Works Inc.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Warner told attorneys on Tuesday that U.S. District Judge David Nuffer had informed him "that trial date is set in stone."
Johnson, a central figure in the scandals surrounding former Utah Attorneys General John Swallow and Mark Shurtleff, and the others are facing 86 charges related to bank accounts they opened in order to process payments for I Works.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Lunnen, the lead prosecutor in the case, said he would be sending out letters to all defendants with plea bargain offers that expire on June 30. If the defendants don't reach plea deals by the deadline, Lunnen said prosecutors would go to trial on the charges.
Typically such agreements amount to a guilty plea on one or more charges and a recommended sentence.
I Works, Johnson and others were sued by the Federal Trade Commission in December of 2010 over allegations they charged consumers' credit and debit cards without proper disclosures.
Then Johnson was indicted in June of 2011 on a single mail fraud charge. He had reached a plea agreement in that case but it fell apart after Johnson balked because, he claimed, he had only agreed to plead guilty after prosecutors threatened to charge family members, friends and coworkers if he didn't go along.
A new grand jury indictment was then filed against Johnson and the four others in March of 2013 related to alleged bank fraud that took place when they established accounts using what prosecutors say were straw companies.
Johnson has maintained his innocence. The companies were real and were formed on advice of officials from banks and their agents in a way that was a standard practice, he has said.
Johnson's coziness with the former attorneys general is part of the criminal cases pending against the two.