Watson's boss and mentor was the notorious Perry Bacon, who figured prominently in the E. F. Hutton check-kiting scandal of the early 1980s.
Upon his release from prison after more than two years, Watson returned to Belding and lived with his father for six months, working as a server at a Red Lobster restaurant in Grand Rapids.
By 1990 he had met John Straayer, and together they founded a company called WS Services, a "value added reseller" of computer systems.
By 2002 the Watsons were living a fabulous lifestyle, owning a million-dollar home in Ada, Michigan and driving a Land Rover, a Ferrari, a BMW, a Bentley and two Rolls-Royces.
This lifestyle, and an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to expand the business internationally, were financed by an ever-increasing number of fraudulent loans.
For instance, one of his salesmen uncovered an attempt to pass off remanufactured computers as new and sell them to the Hastings, Michigan school system.
[1] On November 17, 2004, federal agents raided the CyberNET headquarters on South Division Avenue in Grand Rapids, seizing the business and all of the Watsons's personal assets.
On June 22, 2006, CyberNET president James Horton pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids to four counts of felony mail fraud, and was sentenced to 7½ years in prison.
Paul Wright pleaded guilty on August 31, 2007 to federal charges of conspiracy to defraud banks and finance companies, money laundering and mail fraud.
[3] Krista Watson pleaded guilty on September 4, 2007 to federal charges of conspiracy and tax evasion, and was sentenced to seven years in prison.