Arrest Made in Alleged Ice-Dancing Fix
N E W Y O R K, July 31 -- An alleged Russian mob boss was arrested and charged with plotting to fix the ice-dancing and pairs figure-skating competitions in the 2002 Winter Olympics, federal prosecutors said today.
According to a criminal complaint unsealed by the U.S. attorney in New York, Alimzan Tokhtakhounov played a key role in one of the biggest judging scandals in Olympics history and allegedly tried to influence the votes of ice skating judges at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, including French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne. Le Gougne was at the center of the controversy over the pairs figure-skating competition, in which two couples ended up being awarded gold medals.
Prosecutors said Tokhtakhounov, who was arrested in Italy today, conspired with Russian skating officials to persuade Le Gougne to vote for the Russian figure-skating team of Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. In exchange, the complaint said, Tokhtakhounov tried to line up votes for the French ice-dancing pair, Russian-born Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France. The French duo won the gold medal in ice dancing amid controversy.
Prosecutors said Tokhtakhounov hoped French officials would reward him with a visa to return to France, where he once lived.
"He arranged a classic quid pro quo: 'You'll line up support for the Russian pair, we'll line up support for the French pair and everybody will go away with the gold, and perhaps there'll be a little gold for me, the Russian organized crime figure,'" U.S. Attorney James Comey said at a news conference today.
Le Gougne sparked controversy when she cast the vote that enabled Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze to win the gold medal over figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier after what many observers believed what a flawless performance by the Canadian couple.
Sale and Pelletier were later given duplicate gold medals.
At first, Le Gougne said she had been pressured to voting for the Russians by a French skating official in an alleged vote-swapping deal to ensure a victory in ice dancing for Anissina and Peizerat. However, she recanted that story and then insisted she had voted honestly and with her conscience.
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