President Donald Trump issued a pardon Tuesday for Oak View Group co-founder Tim Leiweke, roughly five months after the administration's Department of Justice indicted the Climate Pledge Arena developer on bid-rigging charges.
A federal grand jury indicted Leiweke in early July after the DOJ alleged he had conspired with a competitor's CEO to rig the bidding process to develop and manage the Moody Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
At the time of his indictment, Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater said in a news release that Leiweke had deprived a public university and taxpayers of the benefits of competitive bidding."
"The Antitrust Division and its law enforcement partners will continue to hold executives who cheat to avoid competition accountable," she said.
Leiweke pleaded not guilty. He faced a $1 million fine and a maximum 10-year prison sentence from the charge: an alleged violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. He was still awaiting trial at the time of the pardon.
In a statement to CNN, Leiweke said Trump's pardon "has given us a new lease on life with which we will be grateful and good stewards."
Leiweke stepped down as CEO of Oak View after the indictment. After the indictment, Oak View told The Seattle Times in a statement that it fully cooperated with investigators and was "pleased to have resolved this matter with no charges filed against Oak View and no admission of fault or wrongdoing.
During Leiweke's time with Oak View, the Denver-based venue development company won the bid to renovate KeyArena in 2017. The renovation, which became Climate Pledge Arena, cost $1.15 billion.
Oak View is a majority owner of the arena and Leiweke's brother, Tod Leiweke, is a part-owner and CEO of the Seattle Kraken. Tod Leiweke is also a former CEO of the Seattle Seahawks, former acting president of the Portland Trail Blazers and former chief operating officer of the NFL. He is also a minority owner of the Seattle Sounders.
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