ATLANTA -- Former U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell, prominent member of King & Spalding, one of the nation's most powerful law firms based in Atlanta, has taken the remarkable step of personally asking congressional investigators to let him amend an official report on Atlanta's bid for the Olympic Games.
The 13-page report, provided to Congress in June, purported to detail inappropriate gifts and favors from Atlanta officials to International Olympic Committee members.After investigators reviewed 38 boxes of documents, including eight boxes that Olympic officials have refused to make public, U.S. Rep. Tom Bliley, R-Va., House Commerce Committee chairman, said Thursday his committee was "concerned that their written response was not totally accurate or complete."
Congressional investigators said they found evidence of additional -- and more expensive -- gifts that were not included in the report, which was signed by Billy Payne and Andrew Young, co-chairmen of the Georgia Amateur Athletics Foundation.
Investigators did not specify publicly what those questionable items are.
After studying evidence compiled by investigators, Bell, a former federal appeals court judge and now a top-ranking attorney with King & Spalding, requested the opportunity to amend the report.
The Commerce Committee's subcommittee on oversight and investigations, which is looking for possible violations of federal bribery laws in Atlanta's Olympic bid, granted Bell's request.