James Michael Johnson, Investment Fraud, Virginia 2023

A Richmond man has been sentenced to 97 months in prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar investment fraud scheme.

James Michael Johnson, 69, was convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering on October 30, 2020, after a four-day trial.

For more than four years, Johnson and his co-conspirators stole over $5 million from victim investors, which included individuals, startup business entities, and a volunteer fire department.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Johnson participated in a worldwide scheme through Chimera Group Ltd., a purported investment company based out of the United Kingdom.

The fraud operated as an advance-fee scheme in which the defendants acted as promoters who promised to pay the victims a sum of money at a later date, in exchange for an upfront advanced payment.

Johnson and his co-conspirators used escrow attorneys, who were themselves part of the scheme, in order to give the victims the impression that their money would remain secure until the conspirators’ promises had been kept.

Johnson and his co-conspirators stole approximately $5.7 million from their victims.

Co-conspirator James Leonard Smith, 64, of Midlothian, Virginia, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27, and Stuart Jay Anderson, 54, of Alisa Viejo, California, was sentenced to four years in prison on December 3, 2020.

Brian Michael Bridge, 46, of London, England, a fugitive, was also charged in the superseding indictment and is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Raj Parekh, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, commended the outstanding work of the trial team and law enforcement partners.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. Moore and Trial Attorneys Christopher Jackson and Vasanth Sridharan of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section.

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