The turmoil-wracked U.S. Olympic Committee braced for the possibility of a federal investigation Monday as its embattled CEO vowed to stay on the job.
In a letter obtained by the Tribune, USOC general counsel Jeffrey G. Benz urged top officials to save any documents that might be requested in a potential probe into matters that could involve chief executive Lloyd Ward.
Benz wrote: “You should make every effort to preserve all records in your possession, both written as well as computer-generated, relating in any way to the 2003 Pan American Games and/or to the USOC review of allegations related to Lloyd Ward in connection with those Games and/or the entity known as Energy Management Technologies.”
The USOC has been embroiled in controversy since Jan. 13, when its ethics committee reported Ward had not violated its ethics code by asking a staff member to help Energy Management Technologies obtain a power-generating contract with organizers of the 2003 Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic. Ward’s brother, Rubert, is EMT’s president.
Five USOC officials have since resigned in protest and committee President Marty Mankamyer on Monday announced plans to set up an independent panel to re-review the case.
A Pan Am Games executive told the Tribune that he expects to be questioned Wednesday by U.S. authorities about EMT’s unsuccessful bid.
Ward said Monday night he knew “no specifics regarding the Justice Department but intended to find out more.” He said he would support a second USOC review, “but its purpose has to be clear, and it has to be embraced by the executive committee.”
Asked if he could survive the current controversy, Ward replied: “I think the Olympics are good, and they have survived good and bad things. I’m proud to be part of the Olympic movement and looking forward to continuing to be part of it.”
Lowell Fernandez, the Pan Am Games project manager, said Monday he is to meet with an FBI agent and an assistant U.S. attorney in Santo Domingo about possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Fernandez said he expects to discuss what he called “a bribe, not a bribe attempt” made by EMT chief executive Lorenzo Williams in hopes of securing the contract. Fernandez has played for reporters a tape recording that he says proves he was offered a bribe.
Williams has denied attempting a bribe. But in a letter to Fernandez he apologized for “my most egregious and inappropriate offer to you.”
A Justice Department representative declined to comment to the Associated Press.
The USOC could be implicated, if only indirectly, because Lloyd Ward helped establish contact with Dominican officials. Lloyd Ward has said he has no financial interest in EMT.
Executive director Ron Rossi of USA Luge on Monday became the first sports governing body chief to speak out on the controversy, saying he was “embarrassed to tell people I am affiliated with the U.S. Olympic Committee.”
“There are a lot of egos at play here, all to the detriment of the athletes. The USOC has to get its act together.”
Ward agreed that “we in governance have to get our act together,” but added “There has been no luster taken off our athletes.”
Lloyd Ward’s role in the EMT contract bid is the source of the internal controversy. In a telephone interview conducted by Fred Fielding, the investigator for the USOC ethics committee, Ward admitted asking former USOC international relations director Hernando Madronero to talk to Rubert Ward about the projected deal.
Fielding’s summary of the interview, which the Tribune has obtained, said, “To this date, [Ward] stated he does not know whether there was any business relationship established, but assumes that was not so since Mr. Madronero never said anything again to him about it.”
But Ward wrote “Hernando FYI Lloyd” on a July 8 letter from Williams and Rubert Ward in which they thanked Lloyd Ward for “personally taking an interest in what we are trying to accomplish with both the [Pan Am] Games and our project in the Dominican Republic.”
Some members of the USOC executive committee have tried to force Mankamyer to resign in the belief she was behind an attempt to discredit Ward. The two have had a strained relationship since Mankamyer became president in May.
