An alleged organized crime boss has been arrested in Italy on US charges of conspiring to fix the outcome of skating competitions in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Mr Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov was arrested by Italian law enforcement authorities with the assistance of the FBI, US Federation prosecutors said.
A spokesman for Manhattan US Attorney's Office said the arrest was believed to be related to the scandal involving French skating judge Ms Marie Reine Le Gougne, who said she had been pressured by French figure skating President Didier Gailhaguet to vote for a Russian couple in the Olympic pairs.
The International Skating Union voted in April to suspend Ms Le Gougne and Mr Gailhaguet for three years. They were also barred from participation in the 2006 Winter Games in Turin.
Ms Le Gougne was accused of deliberately under-marking Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier in favor of Russian rivals Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, who won the event in a 5-4 judging split.
The scandal shook the Olympics and in an unprecedented move, gold medals were eventually also awarded to the Canadians.