EL PASO, Tx., March 31, 2026: Yesterday, the United States Attorney’s Office released a statement announcing that El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson’s brother has pleaded guilty to a Ponzi scheme involving NBA preseason tickets. According to the statement, Timothy Johnson faces up to 20 years per count in federal prison after pleading guilty on March 27 to seven counts.
According to the FBI investigation, between February 9, 2009, through May 14, 2020, Timothy Johnson recruited several individuals to invest in a fictional NBA marketing program that included pre-season tickets. Timothy Johnson promised investors returns as high as 33% in addition to promising the investors that their investments were insured and had no risk of losses.
Timothy Johnson would use subsequent investments in the scheme to pay initial investors. Paying initial investors with money from later investors is a classic Ponzi scheme. The federal attorney’s office provided examples of victims of the scheme who gave Timothy Johnson around $370,000 as investments in the fraudulent scheme.
He was charged in April 2024 as his brother, Renard Johnson, was running for the mayor’s office.
At the time that news broke that his brother had been arrested on fraud charges, Renard Johnson said that he “learned recently that my estranged brother has been indicted,” adding that had “not seen or spoken to him in many years.”
Photograph of Renard Johnson on the left celebrating Timothy Johnson’s birthday, March 4, 2013, posted to Management and Engineering Technologies International, Inc. (METI) official Facebook profile.
The indictment charging Timothy Johnson with fraud named a company, “Company M,” as Timothy Johnson’s place of employment while he was committing the fraud. Records show that Renard and Timothy Johnson both worked at least 45 years in their parent’s business, Management and Engineering Technologies International, Inc. (METI).
Renard Johnson again reiterated in a statement that he had not been in contact with his “estranged” brother. The mayor closed his statement with “I remain focused on my work and on serving the people of El Paso.”
A sentencing date for Timothy Johnson has not been set.
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