Judge Dismisses Utah Olympic Bribery Charges

Yahoo (reuters) ^ | 12/5/03 | Reuter staff

[The_Victor]

SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - A federal judge Friday dismissed all charges against two former Utah Olympic executives on trial for bribery to bring the 2002 Winter Games to Utah.

"It offends my sense of justice. Enough is enough," U.S. District Court Judge David Sam said as he scolded the prosecution and asked how much taxpayer money was spent on the case.

Tom Welch and Dave Johnson had been charged by the U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites) with masterminding a $1 million cash-for-votes scheme to entice international Olympic dignitaries to chose Salt Lake City over other bid cities to host the games.

[The_Victor]

I guess it's OK to pay someone for influence if the recipient is not a government official? Makes sense to me.

[TexasGunLover]

Yeah, it's called a free market economy.

[Dog Gone]

Who bribed the judge?

[blackdog]

The crimes were committed during the 90's which means that all felony cases are subject to dismissal due to the era. It was a time of Hope and doing whatever it took in order to obtain the best possible outcome. Lie, cheat, steal, swindle, bribe, and pillage anything that had a wallet in order to shift wealth.

Then of course there were these Olympic guys too............

[WackyKat]

He didn't need to be bribed-the LDS protects its own

Utah is a major center of white collar fraud

[ghost of nixon]

He didn't need to be bribed-the LDS protects its own

I was thinking the same thing (I'm guessing this judge is LDS) however, it was a stupid case from the beginning. The Olympics were, quite literally, "up for sale". The whistleblowers did everyone a favor by revealing this - but no crimes were committed. Yes it would have been fun to expose some of the local LDS leaders involved in the bribery, but they actually did the state of Utah a favor by doing what it took to win the Olympics - so it would would be unfair to make a legal issue of it.

[lady lawyer]

There were no LDS leaders on the bid committee. There was never any hint that any of the people involved in the scandal had sufficient influence in the church to embarrass it. The governor's office is another matter.

To the best of my knowledge, at least one of the defendants is not in good standing in the church. Don't know about the other. The judge is Mormon.

What this was about is the fact that a lot of the members of the IOC are third-worlders that expect lots of "gifts," and there's no reason for any American city to compete for an Olympics bid if the gifts cannot be forthcoming. SLC learned that after they lost to Nagano, when it was undisputed that SLC had by far the best bid package according to every recognized criterion. Nagano was handing out lots of good stuff to IOC members, who come around with their hands out, as is the custom in their so-called "countries." As the SLOC said, "We realized it was impossible to win by handing out cowboy hats and saltwater taffy."

Sending a couple of guys from Utah to prison is not going to clean up the IOC.

[razorback-bert]

Sending a couple of guys from Utah to prison is not going to clean up the IOC.

I agree, charge the IOC guys with extortion.

[LibertarianInExile]

Gee, I wonder why THAT didn't happen...maybe because the IOC is the fattest of fat cats, and they circled the wagons?

And there are people here who wonder why peons who ain't IOC-rich-and-powerful want taxes raised and incomes capped. Talk about clueless.

You are 100% right that the next time anyone on that committee steps into the U.S., there should be a warrant waiting. It will never happen, as long as the U.N. types run it--and they still do, of course, they're just more subtle.

[Rodney King]

Yeah, it's called a free market economy.

Actually, if they were businessmen and they paid a foreign government to give them a contract they would be afoul of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and would go to prison. However, apparently this judge is a part of the Olympics cult, who see a bunch of guys running around on a field in the name of globalism in the same way that upper-west side Manhannites see the UN, so they will get away with it.

[George from New England]

Don't forget this thread...

OLYMPIC ATHLETES GETTING PREGNANT AND ABORTING TO BOOST PERFORMANCE

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/620263/posts

We already know that the Olympics is always moral and above board!

[Cicero]

From what I can understand, the IOC regularly sells the Olympics to the highest bidder, and this has been going on for decades.

So, why did a bribery scandal break out in Utah? Probably because Utah is more honest than most of the Olympic venues. The other cities took bribery for granted.

[Utah Girl]

Except several of the people aren't LDS. Next theory?

[pepsionice]

The Olympics were for sale....and is still for sale. You simply have to talk $ to the right guy. Nothing has changed. Its the same way for the world soccer cup. And my guess is that even the NFL championship games are likely done the same way. Its all about money.

[LanceWildcat1]

Well, let's see if I can come up with one idea of why Judge Sams acted as he did. Oh, yeah, he's a member of the theocratic bunch that runs Utah. He didn't want any more digging into this case for fear that more, and higher placed, public official's may have been investigated, possibly member's of the LDS church hierarchy! I hope that the government can appeal this blatant attempt at covering up the scandal, and get a conviction of the perpetrator's of this crime.

[Utah Girl]

Did you follow the prosecution's effort at this trial? Their star witnesses testimonies were helpful to the defendants, they'd wave at the two defendants. The case was weak, and had nothing to do with anyone's religion. Judge Sam is LDS, but I know one of the defendants is not in good standing with the LDS church (if indeed he is still a member.) Many members of the committee that got the bid weren't LDS either.

[LanceWildcat1]

My guess is that if anyone bothered to look into it properly, they'd find that the money that didn't come from taxpayer's for the bribe's probably came from the LDS church treasury!!

[Utah Girl]

Please, that is laughable. Church funds are audited very closely and the church leaders take the responsibility of using tithing money very seriously.

What do YOU have against the LDS church?