A Connecticut antiques dealer and auction house owner pleaded guilty to a federal money laundering charge Tuesday, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, which alleges that the theft totaled some $2.1 million.
According to the plea deal, David L. Johnson, a 66-year-old resident of Greenwich who operated the Stamford-based businesses Antique Treasures and Greenwich Auction, “participated in a scheme to defraud W.L.,” whom the government identifies as “an elderly, wealthy individual who required extensive medical attention” and over whom Johnson had power of attorney.
The scheme allegedly lasted from November 2018 until April 2023; W.L. died in August 2020. In his scope as power of attorney, enacted the month before the scheme, Johnson was granted power over W.L.’s “property, stocks and bonds, banks, and other financial institutions,” per the plea deal. But, that legal contract included language that Johnson “MAY NOT use [W.L.’s] property to benefit himself” and stated that he act in W.L.’s best interest and not act beyond the scope of the power of attorney document.
W.L.’s will was also drawn up at the same time as the power of attorney and named Johnson the executor of his estate, with all of his property being transferred to a trust, of which Johnson was not a beneficiary.
The count that Johnson pleaded guilty to involved Johnson allegedly cashing a federal tax refund check for the 2019 tax year totaling more than $436,000 that was issued to W.L.’s estate in October 2020, about two months after his death. In November, Johnson allegedly deposited that check into his personal checking account, and the following month, he purchased a cashier’s check worth $87,580.00 made payable to Fidelity Investments, which qualified that transaction as interstate commerce.
“At the time Johnson purchased the cashier’s check,” the plea deal reads, “he knew that the transaction was designed in whole and in part to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the stolen funds. Johnson also knew that the property represented the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity.”
When he was indicted in December 2025, Johnson was also charged with one count of interstate transport of stolen property and three counts of criminal monetary transactions. According to the unsealed indictment, the stolen property charge involved the sale of W.L.’s securities, worth more than $217,000. The monetary transactions charges involved the sale of W.L.’s artworks to a New York auction house, with the proceeds of more than $308,000 being deposited in a business account belonging to Johnson’s Antique Treasures.
After his sentencing, the government plans to file a motion to dismiss the additional counts Johnson was initially indicted on “because the conduct underlying the dismissed counts will have been taken into account in determining the appropriate sentence,” according to the deal.
Johnson’s guilty plea carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to twice the amount that he allegedly defrauded the victim, or $4.3 million. According to filing, Johnson has already restituted $1.1 million. Johnson will be sentenced on October 30. The government has recommended a sentence of between 8 years, 1 month and 10 years, 1 month, as well as a fine of $30,000 to $300,000.
