OGDEN -- Hints of a plea bargain have appeared in the nearly 2 1/2-year-old federal fraud case against paroled South Ogden swindler Wayne Ogden.
Meanwhile the $9.2 million debt he owes his Weber County victims in his late-1990s state fraud case has stabilized, as he actually made payments over the past year.
Ogden, who turns 46 Friday, was indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2007 on 12 fraud counts in federal court in Salt Lake City, accused of bilking downstate investors of several million dollars in 2003.
Each of the charges carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison.
The former award-winning real estate salesman remains on parole with the Utah Department of Corrections for his 1998 Weber County convictions on fraud charges for bilking 500 investors, mostly his friends and neighbors, of almost $8 million.
That total has ballooned to more than $9.2 million with accrued interest, as Ogden has made only just more than $11,000 in payments over the years, officials said, most recently a $60 payment on Feb. 25.
Court records in the federal case have started to include the words "negotiation" and "settlement" in the last two months.
They've appeared as Ogden's federal public defender asked for more time to respond to pending motions in the case. "Counsel in this matter are trying to negotiate a resolution," federal defender Mary Corporon wrote in an April filing.
And most recently, in a May 6 document, she writes, "Counsel is continuing her settlement discussions with defendant and with counsel for the U.S. Attorney's Office, Mr. Washburn, upon which defense counsel has focused her time."
Calls to Corporon's office and that of prosecutor Loren Washburn were not immediately returned.
Reflecting official policy on public comment on pending cases, Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney for Utah's office, said, "Unfortunately, I cannot comment on whether or not plea agreements are being considered."
Ogden has made enough regular payments on what he owes his Weber County victims that it has gone down slightly since last reported in October 2008 at $9,226,081.07.
With $1,410 in payments since then, the amount is now $9,225,826.39, said Steve Gehrke, state corrections spokesman.
Released from Utah State Prison after serving less than three years of two consecutive one-to-15-year prison terms, Ogden settled in Sandy in 2001.
He fled Salt Lake County just before the lawsuits started flying in mid-January 2003 over the allegations that led to the federal charges following a four-year FBI investigation.
He left letters behind for his unwitting business partners, a handful of young, 20-somethings, and his girlfriend's father, which read:
"The jig is up. I'm going back to jail. Call the lawyers. File bankruptcy. It will all blow up at once and be over in about eight months."
Ogden's last trial date on the federal charges had been set for two weeks last December and has since been postponed.
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