Charles E. Johnson Jr.

Charles E. Johnson Jr.
A white teenager with blond hair is wearing layered collared shirts and smiling into the camera.
Johnson in his 1979 high-school yearbook
Born1961/1962 (age 62–63)
Other names"Junior"
EmployerPurchasePro
Criminal charges
Criminal penalty
  • Nine years imprisonment
  • Ten months imprisonment
Criminal statusIn custody as of May 2023

Charles E. Johnson Jr. (born 1961/1962) is the founder of PurchasePro, who was later convicted of criminal fraud in his management of the company.

Personal life

Born in 1961 or 1962,[1] Charles E. Johnson Jr. grew up in Lexington, Kentucky. There, he attended Lafayette High School and was on the school's 1979 championship basketball team.[2] He later played basketball in college.[3] Johnson is also known by the diminutive "Junior".[3][4][1]

PurchasePro

Johnson founded PurchasePro in 1996,[5] which had a peak market worth of US$1.2 billion in the late 1990s, though went bankrupt in the early 2000s.[2] In May 2001, Johnson was forced out of the company by its board of directors; at the time, he was the defendant in 17 pending lawsuits.[6]

Crime

In January 2005, Johnson was indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia on charges of inflating the appearance of PurchasePro's revenues by using backdated contracts and falsified financial records (the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, § 10(b) and Rule 10b-5). At his first trial (US v. Johnson),[7] Johnson was represented by Preston Burton of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.[3] After providing Burton with fraudulent email evidence, the attorney withdrew from the case,[4] resulting in a mistrial.[3]

He later faced a bench trial[4] in Alexandria, Virginia. On May 15, 2008, Judge Walter D. Kelley Jr. found Johnson guilty of criminal conspiracy, obstruction of justice, securities fraud, and witness tampering. Johnson was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on May 16 at his $9–15-million home in Summerlin, Nevada,[1] and was sentenced to nine years imprisonment and ordered to pay restitution of $9.7 million (equivalent to about $13.7M in 2023).[2]

After his release from prison, while under supervised release, Johnson violated his parole conditions by gambling in 2019, despite having paid little of his restitution. He was sentenced to ten further months imprisonment and re-placed on supervised release under the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services System.[2]

In August 2022, a federal grand jury indicted Johnson for failing to provide the Probation office with required financial information; he faced up to five further years in prison. While out on bail and prohibited to leave the Eastern District of Kentucky, he was proven to have been gambling at the Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati in February 2023. His bond was revoked on April 14, he was arrested in Minnesota on May 3, and he was imprisoned in the Sherburne County, Minnesota jail to await federal authorities.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c Edwards, John G. (May 26, 2008). "Former PurchasePro boss faces prison time". Las Vegas Business Press. Vol. 25, no. 21. p. 15. ISSN 1071-2186.
  2. ^ a b c d e Estep, Bill (May 5, 2023). "Lexington native convicted of fraud involving a billion-dollar company is back in jail". Lexington Herald-Leader. ISSN 0745-4260. Archived from the original on May 5, 2023. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d Johnson, Carrie (November 11, 2006). "Mistrial Called in Online Ad Fraud Case". The Washington Post. p. D01. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 2269358.
  4. ^ a b c Kang, Cecilia (May 16, 2008). "Ex-PurchasePro Chief Found Guilty of Fraud, Obstruction". The Washington Post. p. D01. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 2269358.
  5. ^ Spangler, Todd (June 2005), "Out of the Graveyard", Baseline, no. 45, pp. 24–25, ISSN 1541-3004
  6. ^ Soat, John (May 28, 2001). "IT Confidential". InformationWeek. No. 839. p. 90. ISSN 8750-6874. 'We need to rein in the autonomy on the marketing side,' the Sagent spokeswoman says. 'Some of our people get aggressive.'

Further reading