Olympians involved in Money Laundering
In accordance with Associated Press, Olympic gold medal star Tim Montgomery, his coach Steve Riddick and business associate Nathaniel Alexander of Portsmouth were charged with money laundering, conspiracy and bank fraud in New York. Some of the 8 co-defendants had already pleaded guilty and were supposed to testify against the 3.
Riddick, Montgomery and Alexander had purportedly laundered more than USD 3 million out of USD 5 million illegally obtained by means of stealing and counterfeiting checks procured by the co-defendants. The attorneys of the 3 were expected to argue that they had known nothing about the scheme.
On April 9, 2007, Montgomery pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a scheme of multimillion-dollar bank fraud and money-laundering. Montgomery expressed his regrets regarding the role he had played in that episode and being sorry to have disappointed many people.
He allegedly deposited 3 bogus checks worth a total of USD 775 000. He also was accused of helping Riddick deposit other checks worth about USD 905 000 and accepting a USD 20 000 fee for his role.
According to defense attorneys, he could be sentenced to 37-46 months in prison. Sentence will be announced on November 1.
Tim Montgomery, 32, was a track star, once considered the fastest man in the world until his world record was erased because of the BALCO steroid scandal. A former 100-meter world record holder and a 2000 Olympic gold medalist retired in 2005 after the Court of Arbitration for Sport for doping linked to the investigation of BALCO banned him from track and field for 2 years. He never tested positive for drugs and claims never knowingly taking any banned substances.
Montgomery’s coach, Riddick, a 1976 Olympic medalist, has maintained his innocence.