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Justice Department To Probe USOC Bribery Claims

According to a published report, the Justice Department will send representatives to the Dominican Republic later this week to investigate the circumstances of a proposed power deal that triggered an ethics-related furor involving the head of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) Lloyd Ward and causing several members of the USOC to resign in protest.

The report in the Los Angeles Times says that U.S. authorities have made arrangements to meet Wednesday with Lowell Fernandez, project manager of the Pan Am Games, who says he was offered a bribe by Energy Management Technologies CEO Lorenzo Williams.

Ward told USA Today that he has no intention of resigning and he believes he is “right and good for the Olympics.”

“I wouldn’t take this abuse for a job. I would only take it for a belief, something that really matters and something that’s more fundamental. That’s why I’m here, and that’s why I will stay”, said Ward.

Meanwhile, U.S. IOC member Anita DeFrantz e-mailed members of the USOC’s executive committee that an independent review “is the best and probably the only way to heal this organization and resuscitate its good name”.

USOC President Marty Mankamyer said Sunday that she would welcome such an investigation. “I think the panel is a great idea. It examines all the pieces, and it gives us a documentary or an analysis of what the real trust is”, she said.

An independent review would re-examine the allegations against Ward as well as look into whether the investigation was handled properly by the ethics committee and USOC officials.

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