Olympic fix mobster claims case is a farce

The reputed Russian mobster charged with fixing two figure skating events in the worst judging scandal in Olympics history insists he knows nothing about the Salt Lake City games and that the case against him is a “farce,” his lawyer today.

Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov was arrested by Italian police in the exclusive Tuscan seaside resort of Forte dei Marmi.

Taking along a Russian interpreter, his lawyer, Luca Saldarelli, met Tokhtakhounov for the first time in Venice’s Santa Maria Maggiore prison today.

“He’s absolutely surprised. He doesn’t know anything about the Salt Lake City Olympic games. He’s not even a fan of figure skating,” the lawyer said after leaving the prison.

Saldarelli called his first meeting with his client “very positive. He obviously feels he has done nothing wrong.”

“His job is he’s an intermediary in some international affairs. That’s all I can say,” the lawyer said. “He lives in Rome and in Forte dei Marmi.”

Asked what his client had to say in general about the case, Saldarelli replied: “He said it’s a farce.”

Before the meeting, Saldarelli had said that he expected Tokhtakhounov to fight extradition to the United States and would plead innocent.

Italian police said the Russian may have been in contact with at least six Olympic judges in his alleged plot to fix medals at the Salt Lake City Winter Games.

Tokhtakhounov is accused of scheming to get a French judge to vote for the Russian pairs team, and a Russian judge to vote in turn for the French ice dancing team, according to the criminal complaint, which was filed in Manhattan federal court. Both teams won their events.

The Salt Lake judging scandal resulted in a duplicate set of gold medals being awarded to the Canadian team that finished second to the Russians in the pairs competition.

Saldarelli described Tokhtakhounov as “a friend of some great Russian athletes, but not Olympians. He has a passion for soccer, being an ex-player.”

An Italian police organised-crime unit released transcripts of tapped phone conversations between Tokhtakhounov and unnamed co-conspirators during the games.

“We have recorded a conversation in which the suspect indicates that six judges may have been involved,” said Colonel Giovanni Mainolfi. “However, we have no specific evidence against these judges at this time.”

US prosecutors say an unidentified “co-conspirator” connected with the Russian Skating Federation did the legwork after being contacted by Tokhtakhounov.

In exchange for fixing the events, US prosecutors say, the reputed mobster wanted a visa to return to France, where he once lived.