Posted on 07/31/2002 11:29:50 AM PDT by TontoKowalski
WASHINGTON -- An alleged Russian crime boss was arrested in Italy on U.S. charges he tried to fix the ice dancing competition at the Salt Lake City Olympics, a senior law enforcement official said Wednesday.
Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat won gold after their tribute to the United States. The federal government alleges that Alimzan Tokhtakhounov attempted to influence judges to award the gold medal to Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France. They did win.
Federal investigators have in their possession recorded telephone conversations between Tokhtakhounov and a French ice dancer, in which he brags about being able to influence the outcome of competitions, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official was not certain whether the ice dancer was one of the winning team members, when the conversation was recorded or by which authorities.
The arrest was carried out by the Italian Financial Police, in collaboration with the FBI, Italian authorities said. They refused to give further details.
"We confirm the news, but we'll only give details of the operation tomorrow,'' Angelo Volpe of the Financial Police said Wednesday.
The U.S. official said the Justice Department also is investigating whether Tokhtakhounov or anyone else might have influenced Olympic judges in other events.
The charges against Tokhtakhounov were to be announced by U.S. prosecutors in New York later Wednesday.
Figure skating at the Salt Lake City Games was marked by the biggest judging scandal in Olympic history.
Russians Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze won the gold medal by the slimmest of margins, defeating Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier. But French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne said the next day that she'd been pressured to put the Russians first, and the Canadians were later given duplicate gold medals.
The ice dancing competition also was a point of controversy.
Lithuanians Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas, who finished fifth, filed a protest questioning the voting that placed the couple lower than the Italian and Canadian couples who fell during the free dance, the final phase of the competition. The International Skating Union rejected the protest.
The Lithuanians said they didn't expect to win their appeal but came forward to generate publicity and expose judging inconsistencies.
"We wouldn't have done it unless there was such a stark realization that something was wrong, especially with the two skaters falling,'' said John Domanskis, spokesman for the Lithuanian Olympic team. "That certainly made it easier for our skaters to say, 'Yes, there is a problem, and it should be corrected.' ''
Russia's Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh took silver in ice dancing, Italy's Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio got the bronze, and Canada's Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz were fourth.
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