After seeing their case against Salt Lake bid leaders Tom Welch and Dave Johnson thrown out of court, federal prosecutors have decided to drop related charges against the son of a powerful International Olympic Committee member.
John Kim, whose father is IOC Vice President Un Yong Kim of South Korea, has been held in Bulgaria for six months awaiting extradition to the United States on charges he lied to the FBI and used a fraudulently obtained green card.
Monday, John Kim was notified by his New York City-based lawyer, Zachary Carter, that the U.S. government was dismissing the four-year-old charges and he would soon be free to return home to South Korea.
"Needless to say, he was pleased," Carter told the Deseret Morning News on Tuesday. "He was determined not to be coerced into doing anything that was not true to what he believed. . . . He's a very proud man. He cares about honor and dignity."
U.S. Department of Justice officials did not return calls for comment Tuesday.
The decision comes less than two weeks after U.S. District Judge David Sam acquitted Welch and Johnson on fraud, conspiracy and racketeering charges midway through their trial, citing the government's lack of evidence and calling the case a "misplaced prosecution."
The pair of bid leaders were accused of trying to bribe IOC members with more than $1 million in cash, gifts and favors, handed out during the campaign that landed Salt Lake the 2002 Winter Games.
John Kim was on the government's witness list but fought extradition after being arrested in Bulgaria last May and imprisoned until last month. His extradition case was scheduled to be heard by Bulgaria's highest court Wednesday.
Late last week, however, federal prosecutors began discussions with Carter.
"I think they were ultimately persuaded it would not be in the best interests of the department or the best interests of justice that his prosecution should be further pursued, particularly in light of the result of the Utah trial," Carter said.
The charges against John Kim stem from what the government described as a "sham job" with a Salt Lake City businessman that was arranged for by the bid committee, which also ended up paying his salary.
That businessman, David Simmons, testified at the trial of Welch and Johnson as part of his plea agreement with the government on a misdemeanor tax charge. Simmons had been expected to also testify at John Kim's trial. Simmons has yet to be sentenced.
John Kim has said he would not take the stand against Welch and Johnson, who he considers friends. He told the Los Angeles Times in a telephone interview Monday he is "happy I am not considered a rat. I can walk away with my dignity and my manhood in place."
Welch said John Kim "was a good friend to me and was a good friend to Salt Lake."
The bid leader said the defense never feared what John Kim would say in court. "The government believed we would be concerned about John Kim's testimony. In reality, we would have welcomed it."
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