President Trump on Tuesday pardoned a real estate developer who had been charged by the president’s own Justice Department earlier this year with rigging the bidding process for a sports arena.
Mr. Trump’s pardon effectively quashed his administration’s effort to convict the developer, Timothy J. Leiweke, a founder and former chief executive of Oak View Group, for allegedly orchestrating a conspiracy to rig the bidding process for the Moody Center Arena at the University of Texas to benefit his own company. The maximum penalty for the charge was 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
It was one of the latest in a series of high-profile pardons doled out by Mr. Trump. Earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Trump pardoned Representative Henry Cuellar, Democrat of Texas, who was awaiting trial on charges of bribery. Earlier this week, Mr. Trump pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, who was prosecuted during the first Trump administration for leading a drug-trafficking conspiracy.
When Mr. Leiweke was charged in June, he stepped down as head of Oak View Group, and the company agreed to pay $15 million in penalties for its role in the arena scheme. At the time, Trump administration officials who had worked on the investigation hailed the indictment as part of a wider effort by the Justice Department to root out corruption and unfair business practices.
“The Antitrust Division and its law enforcement partners will continue to hold executives who cheat to avoid competition accountable,” said Abigail Slater, Mr. Trump’s pick to lead the Antitrust Division, in a statement in June.
Justin R. Simmons, the U.S. attorney in charge of the case who was appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, said in a statement around the same time that Mr. Leiweke had engaged in “unfair business practices” that “make it very difficult for the American people to pursue prosperity like our founders intended.”
Christopher Raia, whom the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, had appointed as assistant director in charge of the New York Field Office, also assisted in the investigation. In a statement at the time, Mr. Raia said that the F.B.I. “is determined to ensure that those who disregard fair competition principles do not benefit from a rigged bidding process targeting our communities and public institutions.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a question on Wednesday about why Mr. Trump had pardoned someone who was prosecuted by his own administration.
The indictment against Mr. Leiweke accused him of killing a competing bid from a rival company to build the Moody Center Arena — which ultimately cost $375 million to develop. In exchange for getting the rival company to drop its competing bid, the indictment said, Mr. Leiweke promised to give the rival company kickbacks in the form of subcontracting work on the arena project.
In the end, the rival company backed off, and Mr. Leiweke’s company submitted the sole qualified bid to build the arena. According to the indictment, Mr. Leiweke ultimately reneged on the agreement after winning the contract and Oak View Group did not award the promised subcontracts.
In an email recovered by investigators, Mr. Leiweke bragged after winning the contract that “we were very clever to put together an agreement that scared everyone else away” adding that “this allows us to dictate terms to the university.”
Oak View Group continues to manage and operate the arena, and receives a cut of the revenue from the facility.
Chris Cameron is a Times reporter covering Washington, focusing on breaking news and the Trump administration.
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