US President Donald Trump has pardoned Timothy Leiweke, the former Oak View Group CEO, who was indicted by federal prosecutors for allegedly rigging bids on a University of Texas arena project.
The clemency document was released Tuesday (December 2), resolving criminal charges brought by Trump’s own Justice Department in July against Leiweke, who had served as CEO of the venue development company.
A federal grand jury accused him of “orchestrating a conspiracy” to manipulate the bidding process for what became the $338 million Moody Center arena in Austin.
Leiweke had pleaded not guilty to charges carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The indictment alleged he arranged for rival Legends Hospitality to withdraw from bidding in exchange for subcontracts on the project, leaving Oak View Group as the sole qualified bidder.
In July, Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, said: “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.
According to court documents cited by MBW in July, Leiweke learned in September 2017 that another venue-services company planned to compete for the arena contract. He told colleagues he wanted to “find a way to get [the competitor] some of the business” and “get them to back down.”
By November 2017, Leiweke informed others he was willing to talk to the competitor about not bidding in exchange for subcontracts, but had “no interest in working with them if they intend on putting in a bid,” according to the indictment.
In February of 2018, Leiweke allegedly reached an agreement with the competitor’s CEO, “pursuant to which the competitor agreed that it would stand down and neither submit nor join an independent competing bid for the Arena Project”.
The Moody Center opened in April 2022. Oak View continues to generate revenue from the venue, according to the DOJ.
In connection with the allegations, Oak View agreed to pay $15 million in penalties, while Legends Hospitality paid $1.5 million. A separate non-prosecution agreement between the DOJ and Oak View also detailed a kickback arrangement with a ticketing company, which TicketNews and Billboard identify as Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster.
CNN reported, citing a person familiar with the matter, that Leiweke’s legal team included former Representative Trey Gowdy, a Trump ally who lobbied the Justice Department to drop the case or grant him clemency.
Leiweke’s choice of representation was notable given his past criticism of Trump on social media, where he previously described the president as the world’s “single greatest Con man” and praised former Vice President Mike Pence for “standing up and fighting for the Constitution,” CNN reported, citing now-deleted tweets.
Most recently Leiweke spoke of his “profound gratitude” to Trump. In a statement to CNN, he said: “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.”
David Gerger, Leiweke’s attorney, called the pardon “the right result,” the report said.
“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.”
Timothy Leiweke, Oak View Group
The pardon marks another unexpected clemency decision by Trump in recent days, following recent pardons for former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, convicted on drug-trafficking charges, and Texas Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar and his wife, who faced bribery allegations.
The clemency came one day after Oak View named Chris Granger as permanent chief executive following Leiweke’s resignation after the charges were filed.
“We are happy for Tim that he can now put this matter behind him. OVG has remained steadfastly focused on delivering exceptional outcomes for our clients under the leadership of our CEO Chris Granger.”
Oak View Group Spokesperson
Following Trump’s pardon, a spokesperson for Oak View told CNN: “We are happy for Tim that he can now put this matter behind him. OVG has remained steadfastly focused on delivering exceptional outcomes for our clients under the leadership of our CEO Chris Granger.”
Before co-founding Oak View Group in 2015, Leiweke spent years in sports management. He previously served as president of the Denver Nuggets from 1991 to 1995 and led several other professional sports franchises during his career.
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