COLUMBUS, Ohio AP – A former health care executive accused of witness tampering in a $1.9 billion corporate fraud case suggested that a key witness tell prosecutors that she wasn’t familiar with the charges against him, according to a taped phone conversation played in federal court Friday.

Lance Poulsen, founder and former chief executive officer of National Century Financial Enterprises, said on the tape that the star witness should explain that her previous statements to prosecutors were based on old facts.