A federal judge was expected to unseal criminal charges against former Bonneville Pacific director John T. Dunlop Thursday.
Dunlop has been charged with insider trading, making a false statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission and aiding and abetting in the preparation of a false income tax return.U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Greene was scheduled to unseal the charges at 3 p.m. Dunlop asked Greene to wait until later Thursday to unseal the charges so he could finish telling friends and family about them.
"This is a very difficult day for Jack Dunlop," said James McConkie, attorney for Dunlop, a former Utah Transportation Commissioner. He resigned from that post last year, shortly after Bonneville Pacific fired him.
The charges are the result of several months of negotiations between Dunlop and federal prosecutors. Dunlop agreed to plead guilty to the charges and cooperate with investigators in their investigation of other principals in the company.
"Jack wants to take responsibility for his part in the Bonneville Pacific fiasco," said McConkie. "He wants people to understand that. He knows the Bonneville Pacific case is extremely complex. He has information which will clarify and significantly aid the investigation.
"He hopes that by cooperating with investigators, he can help investors get back more of their money."
In exchange for Dunlop's guilty plea, prosecutors will recommend to Greene that Dunlop be sentenced to no less than two years and no more than three years in prison. However, Greene will ultimately determine the sentence.
Other principals in Bonneville Pacific remain under investigation. A bankruptcy examiner reported last year that the principals may have defrauded investors of millions of dollars.
However, federal investigators focused on Dunlop in March 1992 after Bonneville Pacific officials discovered that Dunlop had converted $2.1 million of Bonneville Pacific funds for his personal use.
Dunlop said he converted the funds with permission of former Bonneville Pacific President Robert Wood.
Bonneville Pacific notified the FBI when it learned of the embezzlement. Dunlop and other Bonneville Pacific principals have been under investigation by the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force for nearly a year.
Dunlop, a former associate director of the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, co-founded Bonneville Pacific's predecessor, Bonneville Associates, in 1977 with former U. Vice President Raymond Hixson and now-Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corridini.
Bonneville Associates is a government relations and business consulting firm. When Hixson and Dunlop branched into the alternative energy development business in the early 1980s, they formed Bonneville Pacific.
Bankruptcy examiner Alan V. Funk identified Dunlop, Wood, Hixson, Corradini and former company officer Wynn Johnson as key players in Bonneville Pacific's troubles.
Dunlop is scheduled to appear before Greene Tuesday at 10 a.m. to enter a guilty plea.