EL PASO, TEXAS — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)), published as received.
EL PASO, Texas – A federal grand jury in El Paso returned an indictment charging an El Paso man with 10 counts related to the alleged operation of a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme.
According to court documents, Timothy France Johnson, 61, through his businesses, BOLO Entertainment LLC, BOLO Sports LLC and Shoot N’2 Sports LLC, allegedly defrauded more than thirty investors by fraudulently representing that their investments would be used to promote pre-season NBA games. The indictment alleges that Johnson held himself out as a third-party promoter of NBA pre-season games and convinced unwary investors to invest money with him to sponsor said pre-season games.
The indictment alleges Johnson collected more than $3 million in investor funds, using approximately $1 million of the deposited investment funds to pay fake investment profits to other clients and using the remainder of the investment funds for personal use. He’s alleged to have never disclosed the misappropriation or the extent of the losses of the investors’ funds.
Johnson is charged with seven counts of wire fraud and three counts of engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity. The defendant made his initial court appearance on April 9 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Castaneda of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the seven wire fraud charges and up to 10 years in prison for each of the three money laundering charges. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas made the announcement.
The FBI is investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Shane Romero and Micaela Glass are prosecuting the case.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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