WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has exercised his presidential power of clemency by fully pardoning Timothy Leiweke, the co-founder of venue developer Oak View Group. This decision resolves a federal bid-rigging case announced earlier this year.
The Justice Department released a document detailing that Mr. Leiweke was indicted in July on antitrust charges. The indictment alleged he orchestrated a scheme to restrict competition for a major arena project being developed in Austin, Texas. Specifically, prosecutors claimed he manipulated the bidding process by guiding rivals away from competing, ensuring Oak View Group emerged as the sole bidder.
In announcing the case back then, Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater characterized the conduct as improper, stating it effectively “rigged a bidding process to benefit his own company and deprived a public university and taxpayers of the benefits of competitive bidding.”
Despite these findings, President Trump granted Mr. Leiweke a full pardon shortly after.
Reactions from those involved were expected following this development. Mr. Leiweke expressed profound gratitude for the presidential release.
