A BAD BENTLEY BUYER BUSTED IN BURBANK WITH TIES TO BEVERLY HILLS

SAN FERNANDO VALLEY MAN ARRESTED IN $8.7 MILLION

SCAM THAT TARGETED NORTH CAROLINA INVESTOR

Special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation recently arrested a Burbank man on charges of defrauding a North Carolina man out of more than $8.7 million through a bogus investment scheme.

According to the Department of Justice, Thomas Mitchell Johnson, 53, a former member of the boards of directors of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce and the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Greater Los Angeles, was arrested pursuant to an indictment returned last Friday by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles.

According to the 11-count indictment, Johnson represented himself to his victim-investor as a successful businessman with experience negotiating sophisticated transactions that he called “high-yield interest opportunities.”

Through his phony corporate company, Zurich Capital Holdings, Inc., Johnson offered an investment opportunity to the victim-investor, promising to make investments only with the authorization of the victim-investor. In response to these promises, the victim-investor transferred $10 million to an account Johnson controlled.

Despite his promises of secure and profitable investments, Johnson allegedly spent the victim-investor’s money on the extravagant personal expenses of himself and his girlfriend.

Johnson allegedly used the victim-investor’s money to, among other things, purchase two houses in Burbank and a Bentley Arnage automobile. The victim-investor ultimately lost more than $8.7 million to Johnson.

In 2003, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered Johnson to pay $8.725 million to the victim. It has taken the Justice Department almost five years to bring criminal charges against this man.

The indictment charges Johnson with six counts of interstate transportation of stolen property and five counts of money laundering. If he is convicted of the 11 counts, Johnson faces a maximum statutory sentence of 110 years in federal prison.

Johnson is currently facing unrelated charges in state court in Utah of selling securities that he did not own through Zurich Capital and may be investigated by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.