Sept. 1, 1999
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ The son of one of the International Olympic Committee's most powerful members was indicted Wednesday on federal charges that he lied to the FBI and entered the country with a fraudulently obtained green card.
The indictment of John Kim is the second criminal case arising from the vote-buying scandal involving Salt Lake's successful bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The charges allege that Kim, the son of Kim Un-yong, who serves on the IOC's ruling executive board, lied to an FBI agent during a Feb. 23 interview. The younger Kim also was alleged to have used a fraudulently obtained green card to visit the United States repeatedly since 1995.
In the first criminal case resulting from the scandal, Utah businessman David Simmons pleaded guilty Aug. 3 to a federal misdemeanor tax charge.
Simmons said he helped create a sham job for the younger Kim with the understanding that the Salt Lake bid committee would pay Kim's salary and then deducted the salary from his taxes.
Simmons told SLOC investigators that Un-yong Kim approved the arrangement.
A 16-count indictment unsealed Wednesday in New York charges that John Kim was put on the payroll of Simmons' company, Keystone Communications, to help Kim obtain his green card. It further alleges Kim's salary was in fact paid by the Salt Lake bid committee and Kim himself.
The scheme was allegedly engineered to influence Kim's father to vote in favor of Salt Lake City's Olympic bid.
Kim family spokesman Bill Schechter said Wednesday that he had not yet seen the indictment and had no immediate response. John Kim was in South Korea, but Schechter said five armed Justice Department agents had appeared at Kim's home on Long Island on Wednesday morning.
Schechter also said the Justice Department has a copy of a document in which Kim was informed in writing by SLOC officials "that Sen. (Orrin) Hatch is prepared to provide special legislation if necessary to overcome any problems that John may have on his green card."
Hatch, a Republican from Utah, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
In March, the IOC gave Kim Un-yong a "severe warning" for his conduct, but stopped short of harsher sanctions. He has denied any wrongdoing in the Salt Lake scandal.
He has said that his son worked with Simmons on purely business terms and that he was unaware of any wrongdoing.
Ten IOC members either resigned or were expelled for receiving cash and other improper inducements from the Salt Lake committee trying to win the right to hold the Olympics.
(Copyright 1999 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
APTV-09-01-99 1639MDT
