SALT LAKE CITY, April 28—Defense attorneys for former President of the Salt Lake City organizing committee, Thomas Welch, have sent in a memorandum six weeks ago to the federal investigators defending his position in the vote-buying scandal with the Salt Lake City bid for the 2002 Games.

William Taylor in Washington, and Tom Schaffer in Salt Lake are representing Welch arguing that the U.S. Department of Justice doesn’t have a case to hold against him and that prosecuting him would only create more problems for SLOC’s image. Since the organizers are working to make budget ends meet the defense is pushing to archive the scandal for everyone’s sake.

Welch resigned for personal reasons, however he is being targeted together with former chief bid deputy Dave Johnson in an investigation being carried out by the U.S. Justice Department that so far has come up with three charges for tax evasion and immigration falsification.
Salt Lake businessman David Simmons and former USOC International Relations director Alfredo La Mont have pleaded guilty to tax evasion however they both agreed to cooperate with authorities on the investigation. John Kim, son of influential IOC Board member Un Yong Kim was accused of lying to the FBI and entering and working in the U.S. with a false green card.
According to current bribery laws, a clear cut accusation is difficult to lay on Welch and Johnson, however charges could be made for tax fraud following the La Mont case.