A plea agreement on two felony charges may position a little-known former U.S. Olympic Committee official to help federal prosecutors take down the leaders of Salt Lake City's troubled bid for the 2002 Winter Games.
But attorneys for Tom Welch and Dave Johnson say the former bid committee leader and his ex-No. 2 never conspired with the former USOC official, Alfredo LaMont, to hide money earned advising Salt Lake City's bid.Documents filed by the U.S. Department of Justice Tuesday refer to Salt Lake bid committee "Officers 1 and 2" in a description of the conspiracy the government alleges prompted LaMont to not pay taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service.
Neither LaMont nor the court documents named the bid committee officials. Welch and Johnson are widely believed to be the ultimate targets of the federal investigation that's gone on for more than a year.
However, some legal observers say the charges filed against LaMont appear to do little to further the government's case against Welch and Johnson. They wonder where the probe is headed.
"In good conscience, this investigation ought to be brought to a close pretty quick," said Brent Ward, a former U.S. attorney for Utah. Not to wrap it up "suggests some confusion if not disorganization and even incompetence."
LaMont, who was forced to resign in January 1999 as the USOC's international relations director, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court to two counts of tax fraud in exchange for his cooperation.
He told U.S. Magistrate Ronald Boyce that he "agreed with a couple of individuals at the Salt Lake Bid Committee to be paid and receive money and hide that money." LaMont was paid more than $48,000 by the Salt Lake committee.
"Tom Welch adamantly denies that he participated in any scheme to assist anyone to avoid payment of U.S. income taxes or that he attempted to bribe any IOC member," Welch's lawyer, William Taylor, said.
A Washington, D.C., attorney whose hiring in January fueled speculation that charges against Welch were coming, Taylor declined to comment further on the latest charges filed in connection with the bid scandal.
Johnson's Salt Lake City-based attorney, Max Wheeler, also denied that his client knew LaMont wasn't paying his income taxes. "There's no motive of any kind for anyone in the bid committee to enter into an agreement that somebody not pay their taxes," Wheeler said.
"I think the government has prepared this plea agreement . . . to give them the maximum options to go after other people. I don't think that when push comes to shove, LaMont's going to claim that anyone at the bid committee conspired with him not to pay his federal taxes."
Wheeler said that whether the federal government is any closer to making a case against his client" all depends on what Mr. LaMont has to say. . . . We think that if he tells the truth, there's nothing that is going to bring criminal charges closer."
Ward said investigators likely have all the evidence they're going to be able to get. What they don't already know at this point would have to come from bid leaders or IOC members -- who aren't likely to talk.
Paul Cassell, a former federal prosecutor who's now a University of Utah law professor, said it will be hard for the government to prove bid committee officials told LaMont not to pay his taxes.
"It may very well be in LaMont's interests to say everybody else knew about this. Welch and Johnson and others may very well deny it," Cassell said. He said the government's case against LaMont amounts to little more than routine tax fraud.
LaMont is the third person charged in the government's ongoing criminal investigation into allegations Salt Lake City tried to buy the votes of International Olympic Committee members with more than $1 million in cash, gifts, trips and scholarships.
The court documents filed Tuesday refer to "funneling money to an IOC member" as part of the services LaMont was paid to provide the bid committee. His payment included "$2,500 for each 'IOC confirmed vote for Salt Lake City.'"
While the court documents do not name any IOC members, an internal investigation by the USOC that forced LaMont to resign in January 1999 said Austin Sealy of Barbados received $3,000 from the bid through LaMont.
The case also revealed that LaMont worked for Rome's failed bid for the 2004 Summer Games -- and failed to report $40,000 earned from the Italian city. Rome was considered the favorite, but the IOC chose Athens instead.
LaMont and his attorney, Lee Foreman of Denver, had little to say after their court appearance Tuesday. Foreman told reporters that the plea agreement "speaks for itself" and declined to answer further questions, including whether LaMont worked for other bids.
The former USOC official's activities were described in a Justice Department press release as "a scheme in which LaMont and others, including two officers" of the Salt Lake bid committee concealed the money he earned "for acting as a consultant.' "
The release went on to say that "a series of sham contracts concealed the fact that the (bid committee) was paying LaMont, through a fictitious company" (Citius), to influence both the USOC and IOC in favor of awarding the Games to Salt Lake City.
Court documents said LaMont used an alias, "Antonio Aguilar," to execute his consulting contract with the bid committee. Most of the money he received was made payable to Citius and sent to an unidentified individual in Mexico City, who was to transfer the funds to LaMont. But court documents said some checks were also deposited to a bank in Brownsville, Texas, under an account that LaMont controlled.
LaMont, the release stated, agreed to help Salt Lake defeat the other U.S. cities competing to be selected by the USOC as this country's choice for the Games.
Anchorage, Alaska, had bid for the two previous Games and was seen as Salt Lake's biggest competition. The head of that bid told the Deseret News Wednesday that Salt Lake City sabotaged its competition by hiring LaMont.
"Any effort by a city without stature to undermine the city that's the official candidate by bribery or whatever you want to call it, that's sabotage," said Rick Nerland, the executive director of the Anchorage bid effort.
Still, Nerland said Salt Lake City probably would have defeated Anchorage even without LaMont. USOC spokesman Mike Moran agreed. "I don't believe his association had an effect on our vote," Moran said.
LaMont, 50, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to impede and obstruct the IRS and one count of making a false declaration on an income tax return. The charges arose from the money LaMont received from the Salt Lake and Rome bids, according to court documents.
He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy charge, and three years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the false statements count.
The charging documents were amended just before the afternoon hearing to reflect what Boyce said was the most applicable penalty, raising the fine for the second count from $100,000 to $250,000.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend that LaMont receive "the maximum applicable reduction" by law at his sentencing, Boyce said. In pleading guilty, LaMont waived his right to a formal indictment, a jury trial and any future appeals.
Although U.S. attorney Joseph Walker asked the court to postpone LaMont's sentencing indefinitely, Boyce said he will request a pre-sentence investigation to begin immediately. Meanwhile, LaMont was allowed to return to his home in Colorado Springs.