Salt Lake City Olympic Officials Indicted

July 21 -- One week after rejecting a plea bargain, the two top officials in Salt Lake City’s Olympics bid were indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury for their alleged roles in an international vote-buying scheme to bring the Games to Utah.

The 15-count indictment, brought in Salt Lake City, alleges thatThomas Welch and David Johnson “offered and paid $1 million toinfluence the votes of more than a dozen International OlympicCommittee members,” the Justice Department said Washington.

Welch, 55, the former president of the Salt Lake City Olympicbid committee, and Johnson, 41, the ex-vice president, “preparedand executed a series of bogus contracts and falsified … books,records and other publicly available documents so as to concealtheir activities,” the Justice Department statement said.

The Justice Department also said Welch and Johnson “personallydiverted $130,000” in bid committee income.

Franklin Servan-Schreiber, director of communications and new media for the International Olympic Committee, told ABCNEWS.com: “It appears that no IOC member has been indicted. That’s all I know at this time, and therefore it’s very difficult for me to comment. … We’re very glad that we can get this over with.”

The United States Olympic Committee said in a formal statement, “The indictments issued today represent another important step to bringing closure to this matter. With the investigation apparently complete, we look forward to attention once again being focused on the athletes of the world. …”

Collapsed Negotiations

The two were charged with one count of conspiracy, five countsof mail fraud, five counts of wire fraud and four counts ofinterstate travel in aid of racketeering. Welch resigned from theSalt Lake City Olympic Bid Committee in 1997 and Johnson resignedin 1999.

Each of the charges carry a maximum sentence of five years inprison and a $250,000 fine.