SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah businessman accused of running a fraudulent $350 million software scheme says the state attorney general arranged a deal to pay Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to make a federal investigation into the software business disappear.

St. George businessman Jeremy Johnson told The Salt Lake Tribune (http://bit.ly/UGd4Ww) that newly elected Attorney General John Swallow set up a deal in 2010 for Johnson to pay $600,000 to people connected to Reid.

Johnson says be believed that Reid, a Nevada senator, might intervene in the Federal Trade Commission's investigation.

Swallow strongly denies the allegations and maintains he only offered to connect Johnson with a lobbying firm.

The FBI and Reid's office declined to comment.

Johnson is charged with mail fraud, money laundering and bank fraud and could face decades in prison if convicted.