Kristine Johnson’s Achieve Community guilty plea accepted
At an initial appearance hearing held yesterday in Charlotte, North Carolina, Kristine Johnson formally plead guilty to one count of wire fraud.
The court accepted Johnson’s plea, with sentencing still to come.
About a fortnight ago now the DOJ filed a Bill of Information, which broke the news Johnson was going to plead guilty.
Johnson waived her right to prosecution by indictment, with the Bill Of Information instead laying out the lone count of Wire Fraud Conspiracy (referred to as “prosecution by information”).
As part of her guilty plea, Johnson acknowledged that she “fully understood” the charges and agreed with the “factual basis” of the case against her.
Looking forward Johnson now faces a sentencing hearing, which will reveal just how much running a $6.8 million dollar Ponzi scheme will cost her.
According to a WSOCTV report, Johnson ‘could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine’. For now Johnson is out on a $25,000 unsecured bond, the details of which have been sealed (no idea why, but it might have something to do with upcoming charges against Troy Barnes).
Separately a hearing in the SEC’s civil case against Johnson is scheduled for July 7th (next Tuesday).
Stay tuned…
Footnote: Our thanks to Don@ASDUpdates for providing a copy of Johnson’s Waiver of Indictment and the court’s acceptance of her guilty plea.
Thanks to the various readers who sent in a heads up about this story (there were a few of you).
I would have had something up earlier today but woke up to a leaking air conditioner (son of a…).