[2] In November 2013, following federal and state investigations into alleged improprieties, Swallow resigned, after less than a year in office,[3] while proclaiming his innocence and denying all wrongdoing.
[5] Thereafter, following an extensive review of all evidence in all investigations and according to a letter dated July 16, 2017, the Utah State Bar absolved John Swallow of any ethical violations.
[6] In September 2019, the Utah State Legislature, by nearly-unanimous votes, approved a $1.5 million damages payment, reimbursing Swallow for his legal fees.
[9][10] Swallow served a Spanish-speaking mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Los Angeles, California.
[12] In 1985, Swallow married Suzanne Seader; after his graduation they moved to Sandy, a suburb of Salt Lake City.
[14] Swallow gave up his state house seat in 2002 to run for Utah's 2nd congressional district against freshman Democrat Jim Matheson.
The district had been located entirely within Salt Lake County, but redistricting after the 2000 census pushed it into a large swath of rural territory in southern Utah, where Swallow had lived as a boy.
[18] In January 2013, the United States Department of Justice and FBI investigated Swallow's role in an alleged scheme to help indicted businessman Jeremy Johnson avoid a lawsuit by the FTC.
[19] According to Johnson, who was indicted for mail-fraud charges related to his internet business iWorks, Swallow attempted to broker a deal to bribe Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid with $600,000 through lobbyist Richard Rawle.
[18] In May 2013, Marc Sessions Jenson (who was convicted in 2008 of defrauding millions from investors) turned receipts over to the FBI, claiming to show that in 2009 he gave Swallow free meals, massages, golf outings and rooms at a gated Newport Beach villa.
"[23][6] In May 2013, Lieutenant Governor Gregory S. Bell announced he would appoint a special counsel to investigate potential violations of campaign laws.
The committee concluded that Swallow had engaged in unethical and potentially illegal behavior, including the disappearance of substantial electronic evidence under suspicious circumstances.
[34] On December 6, 2013, the Utah State Bar dismissed an ethics complaint filed at the request of a Gary Herbert cabinet member saying: “the evidence you provided is insufficient to establish.
Swallow engaged in conduct that violated the Rules of Professional Conduct.”[23] On March 2, 2017, more than three years after he stepped away from office, a jury of eight unanimously acquitted him on all charges.
While serving as Chief Deputy Attorney General, Swallow doubled the size of the Public Lands litigation team.
Swallow alleges that expansive federal policies that cut off access to public lands are killing jobs, hurting Utah's economy[38] and robbing children's classrooms of greatly needed funding.