Trump pardons entertainment exec indicted by his own justice department

Donald Trump quietly pardoned on Tuesday a sports and entertainment executive, Tim Leiweke, who was indicted by the president’s own justice department this year.

Leiweke, who co-founded Oak View Group, was indicted in July for what federal prosecutors alleged was his role in “orchestrating a conspiracy to rig the bidding process for an arena at a public university in Austin, Texas”.

Leiweke had pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to restrict trade and was due to stand trial next year.

“As outlined in the indictment, the Defendant rigged a bidding process to benefit his own company and deprived a public university and taxpayers of the benefits of competitive bidding,” assistant attorney general Abigail Slater of the justice department’s antitrust division said in July. “The Antitrust Division and its law enforcement partners will continue to hold executives who cheat to avoid competition accountable.”

“Unfair business practices, like those employed here, make it very difficult for the American people to pursue prosperity like our founders intended,” Justin Simmons, the US attorney for the western district of Texas said in July. Simmons was appointed interim US attorney for that office by Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, in June.

“I do not have the words to adequately convey my profound gratitude to President Trump,” Leiweke said in a statement to Sports Business Journal on Wednesday. “This has been a long and difficult journey for my wife, my daughter, and me. The President has given us a new lease on life with which we will be grateful and good stewards.”