USA: ATHLETICS - Former Olympic champion Tim Montgomery implicated in a bank fraud and money-laundering scheme

Record ID: 573451

  • Title: USA: ATHLETICS - Former Olympic champion Tim Montgomery implicated in a bank fraud and money-laundering scheme
  • Date: 29th April 2006
  • Summary: (S2) FILE PALO ALTO,CALIFORNIA (REUTERS) TRACK: TIM MONTGOMERY WALKING INTO ATHLETICS MEET.
  • Embargoed: 14th May 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAF05NXTLY2HYMZ9B2W2G38P9Z8
  • Story Text: Former Olympic champion and world-record-holding sprinter Tim Montgomery, banned from competition for doping, was arrested on Friday (April 28) in connection with a multi-million dollar bank fraud and money-laundering scheme, federal officials said. Montgomery and 13 others, including his coach, 1976 Olympic gold medalist Steven Riddick, were charged with participating in a conspiracy to defraud banks by depositing stolen, altered and counterfeit checks and then laundering the proceeds through various accounts. The indictment filed in U.S. federal court in Manhattan charges that the ring stole, altered or counterfeited at least some 20 checks totalling well over $5 million. Montgomery appeared before magistrate judge James Bradberry on Friday at U.S. federal court in Norfolk, Virginia. He will remain in custody until he makes a $10,000 bond. He is scheduled to be arraigned in New York on May 3. Montgomery caused at least three fraudulently obtained checks totaling $775,000 to be deposited into accounts associated with him, according to the indictment announced in New York by U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia. Riddick, who also coaches former champion women's sprinter Marion Jones, caused at least three checks totaling $905,000 to be deposited in his accounts, the indictment said. Montgomery has been fighting a two-year doping ban imposed on him in December by Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on the basis of testimony of fellow-American sprinter Kelli White and evidence accepted from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that he had taken banned substances provided by California laboratory BALCO. The 31-year-old Montgomery never failed a doping test while he was competing and has denied taking performance-enhancing drugs. The CAS ruling annulled all of Montgomery's results since March 31, 2001, including his 2002 100 meters world record. The sprinter refuses to return prize money being demanded by the Internationa Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in the wake of the doping ban. Montgomery was part of the winning 4x100 meters U.S. relay team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. In 2002, he had been credited with setting a world record of 9.78 seconds in the 100 meters on Sept. 14 at the IAAF Grand Prix final in Paris. He announced his retirement in December after the ruling that banned him from competition.
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