Dot Com Era Magnate Found Sentenced To 9 Years For Fraud

Charles E. "Junior" Johnson, 48, of Las Vegas was sentenced to 9 years in prison Thursday for defrauding investors in his now-defunct company, PurchasePro. Prosecutors alleged that Johnson orchestrated the false inflation of PurchasePro's revenues during the first three quarters of 2001 while the company was unravelling. Seven other individuals have been convicted in this case which also led to charges of improper accounting practices at America Online. In May 2008, Johnson, former chairman and CEO of PurchasePro, was found guilty of securities fraud, witness tampering and other crimes. He was indicted in January 2005, along with co-conspirators and company executives, Robert Geoffrey Layne and James Sholeff following an investigation conducted by the SEC. Johnson's obstruction of justice charge arose from his unsuccessful attempt to introduce fabricated e-mails into evidence at his trial. According to reports, his attorneys found out about it and resigned from the case which caused a mistrial.

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