posted on November 16, 2001 08:01:21 PM
April 19, 2001: The trial of Tom Welch and Dave Johnson (Olympic Games bribery scandal) was scheduled to begin over the summer. Federal magistrate Ronald Boyce set the trial date for Monday, July 16, 2001.
On June 26, 2001, this same magistrate denied a defense motion to drop four racketeering charges and a conspiracy charge. The very same day, magistrate Boyce was countermanded by the presiding judge in the case, David Sam, who said he couldn't understand why the prosecution was making a federal case out of the scandal. He dismissed the bribery and racketeering charges, leaving eleven other felony indictments intact.
Weeks and months went by while both sides made various motions and appeals, delaying the start of the trial. On November 15, 2001, Judge Sam dismissed the remaining eleven felony counts, saying the prosecution's case was "defective" and he ruled that, without the bribery charges (the ones HE dismissed back in June!) the other charges had to be dropped as well.
posted on November 17, 2001 03:21:28 AM
So what's the big news? I can't remember the last time I didn't hear about bribery charges in connection with choosing a site for the Olympics. If I dug far enough down in my couch, the next Olympics could probably be held in my backyard.
If the big news is the charges being dropped, more details.
posted on November 17, 2001 04:11:33 AM
"If the big news is the charges being dropped, more details."
And here I went and made that purty three-paragraph synopsis just so as not to bog anyone down with excessive reading material.
Sorry, Donny, the big news *is* that the charges were dropped, since the U.S. DOJ bothered to file them in the first place, given, as you say, that bribery is a natural part of Olympics bidding.
You'll have to supply your own chagrin, or outrage...
posted on November 17, 2001 11:06:43 AM
Three paragraph synopsis? Don't sell yourself short, that's a four paragraph synopsis, counting "hahaha!" (which I will, because I'm feeling especially generous today.)
But there's still not enough details in there about the charges to be either chagrinned or outraged.
posted on November 17, 2001 02:12:33 PM
WOW makes you think how petty and bored we must have been in the past, to think this would have been a big news story in other times
posted on November 17, 2001 03:11:47 PM
I realize that the corruption running rampant throughout an organization founded on the loftiest ideals wouldn't seem newsworthy to you, Dman. Here's something more suited to your sensibilities:
posted on November 17, 2001 03:28:22 PM
WOW I really did like that one
Actually it wasn't that I didn't find this Story news worthy, It's that I have stopped watching most news these days.
The reason the news has been so slanted to one side , Not just on tv and on radio but as well on the net everything seems to have to be linked to terrorist or it just can't be true or someones not telling the whole story or lieing trying to make people feel better by not indicateing that its linked to the war.
Hell its getting so slanted if your not a terrorist or at the bottom of the WCT your unimportant.
Problem is before this thread is done there will be one or more hear to find a way to link this story to bush, Bin laden or the war or anthrax to help make it more news worthy.. http://www.Dman-N-Company.com
Email [email protected]
posted on November 17, 2001 04:31:25 PM
"Donny, try a search for "IOC 2000 bribery" "
LOL!! But doing a search for "IOC 2000 bribery" also brings up stories about the allegations of bribery in the choosiing of Sydney as the site of the 2000 Olympics. Perhaps a more refined search would be in order...
But let's face it, the Olympics are always boring. Even the addition of bribery as a summer and winter event never spiced them up.
And I didn't get the "Blondie" cartoon either, and I used to like "Blondie." Am I losing my sense of humor?
