FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A Miramar man was booked into the Broward County Main Jail on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service on Friday as he faces a six-figure wire fraud case.
His state-registered company, authorities said, was called “Hugh Johnson Enterprises,” but the man behind it is named Tommie Lee Nelson.
Nelson, 65, is accused of stealing $455,000 from a co-operative trying to buy a farm and manufacturing building in Danville, Virginia, beginning in 2020. Prosecutors identified the victim as a member of the co-op.
According to a July 8 grand jury indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Nelson falsely presented himself as a “hard money lender and potential business partner” who would loan them money to buy the building and falsely claimed “he would be responsible for negotiating” with the seller.
Nelson opened a Hugh Johnson Enterprises bank account and received payments from the victim, which he used for personal expenses, like gambling and paying his associates, prosecutors said.
At one point, authorities allege that Nelson even traveled to Virginia to view the building with the buyer in order to create an impression that the transactions were legitimate. They said he lied and told the victim the funds would be held in escrow and sent her “a purported loan pre-qualification certificate from another lender.”
Nelson never tried to buy the building, the indictment states, and strung the victim along with delays and excuses, including that he was “renegotiating” the sale price.
He now faces the possibility of a two-decade federal prison sentence.
According to the indictment, the case against Nelson is being prosecuted in Lynchburg, Virginia federal court.
He remained held in South Florida as of Monday.
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