A key witness in the government's case against Salt Lake Olympic bid leaders Tom Welch and Dave Johnson was granted immunity Friday and testified that he did not embezzle money from the bid committee.
Yet Rod Hamson was unable to explain why an accountant hired by the defense was able to identify more than $51,000 in apparent double billings and other improper expense reimbursements.
The conflicting testimony from Hamson, the bid's finance director, followed a day of behind-the-scenes negotiations put into motion by U.S. District Judge David Sam to ensure the government witness was protected from prosecution.
Sam requested the appointment of federal public defenders for Hamson and cancelled court proceedings Thursday in the fraud, conspiracy and racketeering trial of Welch and Johnson.
The bribery case stems from the more than $1 million in cash and gifts given to influence members of the International Olympic Committee before their decision more than eight years ago to award Salt Lake City the 2002 Winter Games.
Hamson initially invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination when he took the stand Friday for a fifth day. But he agreed to continue answering questions after accepting an offer of immunity from the government.
He had previously testified that he did not expect to be prosecuted in exchange for his truthful testimony. However, Welch's attorney, Bill Taylor, told reporters later that Hamson was testifying under an order from the government compelling him to answer questions rather than any deal.
Friday's immunity offer, federal prosecutor Richard Wiedis said during his redirect of Hamson, doesn't cover perjury. "If you were to lie on the stand, those statements could be used against you," Wiedis told him.
Asked by Wiedis if he embezzled from the bid committee or knowingly took money he was not entitled to, Hamson answered, "I did not." He also said he was surprised when he heard the allegations for the first time Thursday.
Hamson told jurors that he hasn't had enough time to review information compiled by accountant Alan Funk for the defense that showed he doubled-billed the bid committee 27 times for a total of about $15,000.
Funk, a former FBI agent and the court-appointed examiner in the 1991 bankruptcy of Bonneville Pacific Corp., also found 30 instances where Hamson received credits on his personal charge card for expenses that had already been reimbursed by the bid committee.
Johnson's attorney, Max Wheeler, went over some of the instances during his cross-examination of Hamson and asked if he could explain what happened to the funds. "I don't believe I intentionally kept any of it," Hamson said.
He also said his charge card was used by others at the bid committee to book trips for IOC members and bid officials. The expenses in question all appear to involve airline tickets purchased on Hamson's card, which racked up monthly balances as high as $107,000.
Hamson's troubles started Wednesday, when he acknowledged under questioning by Wheeler that he had received a credit on his charge card for more than $4,600, even though the bid committee had already reimbursed him for the expenditures.
Jurors had already been told in the defense's opening statements that Hamson had not paid his attorney, despite having received funds from the Salt Lake Organizing Committee to cover the legal costs associated with his involvement in the case.
"Can you see that appears to be kind of a pattern?" Wheeler said.
Taylor wasn't so tough on Hamson. During his cross-examination, Taylor relied on Hamson to document gifts to some 85 of the 100 or so IOC members at the time of the bid.
The gifts included $1,200 in rabbits sent as a joke to Dick Pound, an IOC member from Canada who later headed up the organization's internal investigation into the bribery scandal, as well as shopping sprees at Nordstrom, Jazz tickets and even a Nintendo game.
Vitaly Smirnov of Russia accepted $1,400 in bathroom furnishings that he couldn't find in his home country, as well as a gun and other gear needed for a hunting trip, including the services of an outfitter.
Every time Taylor confirmed a gift, whether it was luggage, books, a rocking chair or thousands of dollars in tuition payments, he had an assistant put a check next to the name of an IOC member on a large chart placed next to the jury.
The items, he emphasized, were handed out despite an official IOC rule prohibiting bid committees from giving more than $200 in gifts to each member. Taylor told jurors that "every nickel" of the bid budget was meant to influence IOC votes.
Prosecutors, who were depending on Hamson to show jurors that Welch and Johnson deceived the community and business leaders overseeing the bid, also had no comment on the turn the case has taken.
But outside of court, both Wheeler and Taylor said it had been a good day for the defense.
"We made the points we wanted to make and I think the jury sees the points we want to make," Taylor said. "We still expect to win and I think the evidence is coming in very forcefully that way."
Asked if he believed Hamson didn't take money from the bid committee, Taylor said "it's very difficult to accept the notion that a guy makes $50,000 each year and had another $50,000 unaccounted for just all accidental. But maybe it is."
Wheeler said Hamson's statement is "up to the jury to buy or not buy." He said he felt "sorry for him. I think he was put in a position, a very uncomfortable position. Not by us. . . . I don't think he's lying for the most part."
He also said the defense was not hoping for a mistrial. Had that happened, the government would have been able to simply schedule a new trial. Wheeler did express gratitude to the government for granting immunity to Hamson.
Hamson declined to comment Friday. He is expected to take the stand again Monday.
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