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Man accused in figure skating fix attempt to be extradited to U.S.

Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov

ROME, Italy (CNN) -- Italian officials said Thursday that a man accused of fixing the figure skating competition at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games would be extradited to the United States, most likely after Italian judges return from their annual vacation in September.

Italian authorities were investigating Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, accused of ties to Russian organized crime, on other matters when they came across telephone conversations in which Tokhtakhounov apparently set up the fix, said Financial Police Commander Giovanni Mainolfi.

Federal prosecutors in New York charged Tokhtakhounov, a native of Uzbekistan and living in Italy, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bribery for allegedly brokering a deal in which the Russian skaters Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze would be awarded the gold medal in the pairs competition. In return, the French pair Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat would win the gold in ice dancing.

Mainolfi said one of the intercepted phone calls was from a Salt Lake figure skating judge reporting success to Tokhtakhounov.

Anissina and Peizerat won the ice dancing gold, but the decision to award a gold medal to Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze, who stumbled during their final performance, touched off a controversy that threatened to overshadow the rest of the games.

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The vote of French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne gave the Russian pair the gold medal over Canadian skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, who performed flawlessly. Questioned about her decision, Le Gougne first said she had been pressured to vote for the Russians by Didier Gailhaguet, the head of the French skating federation, but she later retracted that claim.

Amid a public outcry, Sale and Pelletier, who have since turned professional, were awarded duplicate gold medals.

After an investigation, the International Skating Union banned Le Gougne and Gailhaguet from the sport for three years. The ISU also revamped its judging process.

Sale and Pelletier said Wednesday they weren't surprised by the arrest.

"It's figure skating," Sale said, smiling and throwing her hands up. "We just did our job at the Olympics. We did the best that we could ... We still didn't even know the truth, and obviously now, everything is kind of coming out in the wash."

"Wherever there's power, wherever there's money involved, there's always some bad people around," Pelletier said. "It's everywhere. It's not just in skating."

Sale, left: "Wherever there's power, there's money involved, there's always some bad people around."

"It doesn't take away anything from what we did. We're still proud, and we still enjoyed 100 percent our Olympic experience."

Tokhtakhounov, whom a federal prosecutor said has been the target of an investigation by the FBI's organized crime task force for more than a year, was arrested by Italian authorities. U.S. officials would face one count of bribery to influence a sporting competition and one count of wire fraud if and when he is extradited.

Mainolfi said the extradition would "for sure" take place.

"According to Italian law, he should be extradited within 45 days, but you have to take into account the fact that from the first of August until the 15th of September is judicial holidays so most probably it could be longer," the commander said.

The complaint against Tokhtakhounov said other unnamed co-conspirators were involved in the alleged scheme.

An FBI affidavit said Interpol, the international police organization, believes Tokhtakhounov has been involved in drug distribution, illegal firearms sales and trafficking in stolen vehicles, as well as having allegedly fixed beauty pageants in Moscow in the early 1990s.