SALT LAKE CITY, 27 October 2003 — The gold medals have been handed out, the parties and fireworks are over and the 2002 Winter Olympics called a grand success. But a dark shadow lingers over the Games — a bribery scandal that threatened at one point to derail the Utah Olympics.
Tomorrow, two former top Utah Olympic officials go on trial for masterminding a $1 million cash-for-votes scandal.
Tom Welch, 58, was president of the Salt Lake bid and organizing committees and Dave Johnson, 44, was senior vice president when the Games were awarded to Salt Lake City.
After the hoopla and the joy of bringing the Olympics to Utah, the two were indicted in July 2000 on one count of conspiracy, five counts of mail fraud, five counts of wire fraud and four counts of interstate travel in aid of racketeering. The federal government charged the duo with carrying out a complicated bribery scheme to induce members of the International Olympic Committee to award the Games to Utah. The two have insisted other Olympic leaders knew exactly what they were doing because that is the way the game was played.
