Among the problems some visitors to the Olympic games have experienced are the result of ticketing screw-ups attributed to an American vendor of tickets -- Co-Sports. According to the Financial Times, Co-Sports and its owners are big contributors to the Romney campaign.
CoSport’s owner, Sead Dizdarevic, his wife Margaret and his holding company, Jet Set Sports Holdings, have donated $200,000 to Restore Our Future, a super-political action committee that supports Mr Romney, according to federal records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
Mr Dizdarevic has also been a big donor to Republican congressional elections, contributing $20,000 to Republican House and Senate committees in this election cycle.
The ticketing debacle is not the first Olympic controversy in which Mr Dizdarevic has been embroiled. ...FT
Not by a long shot.
A decade ago, Dizdarevic was implicated in the bribery scandal surrounding the Olympic Games in Salt Lake. Organizers of the games had allegedly offered perks to International Olympic Committee members to secure the games.
According to federal prosecutors during the subsequent trial, Dizdarevic and his sister-in-law supplied $131,000 in cash to the local organizers during the mid-1990s. Dizdarevic, who was granted immunity during the trial, said the money was part of an attempt to curry favor and secure a hospitality contract for the Utah games.
Ten International Olympic Committee members resigned or were dismissed in the wake of the corruption scandal, even though the two officials charged in the trial were ultimately acquitted.
Despite Dizdarevic’s role in the controversy, Jet Set Sports was named the official sponsor of hospitality packages for the Salt Lake City games, offering tickets, dining services, ground transportation and accommodations at some of the area’s most luxurious hotels. And Jet Set Sports has continued to win prestigious contracts for the Olympic Games ever since. ...Center for Public Integrity
The beat goes on.
Because the Olympics are international news, and the ticket screw-ups are big news, Romney's continuing involvement with the Dizdarevics is big news right across the globe. Yes, indeed. This trip has introduced Mitt Romney's association with predatory business dealings to the world at large in ways that surely make most Americans cringe.
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