Trump Pardons Developer Indicted For Arena Bid-Rigging
President Donald Trump pardoned Tim Leiweke, the co-founder of sports venue developer and operator Oak View Group, ahead of his criminal trial for allegedly rigging the bidding process for a Texas development.
Leiweke’s full and unconditional pardon comes roughly six months before his trial was to begin for allegedly enticing a competitor not to bid on the development of a $375M multipurpose arena at the University of Texas at Austin.
Leiweke was indicted in July for criminal conspiracy by Gail Slater, Trump’s pick to temporarily run the Department of Justice's antitrust division.
On Steve Bannon’s podcast in July, Slater touted the case as an example of strong law enforcement. A former staffer for Vice President JD Vance, she is still in the top division role.
Leiweke was facing a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $1M fine if he was convicted of the Sherman Act violation.
The White House didn’t respond to Bisnow’s request for comment early Thursday and hasn’t publicly said anything about the pardon, which is dated Tuesday.
“I do not have the words to adequately convey my profound gratitude to President Trump,” Leiweke said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets. “This has been a long and difficult journey for my wife, my daughter, and me.”
The alleged conspiracy began in 2018. Oak View Group won the contract for the project in 2019, and the Moody Center opened in 2022 as the arena for the University of Texas men’s and women’s basketball teams.
Federal prosecutors alleged in the criminal case that Leiweke made a deal with Legends Hospitality, co-founded by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, not to bid for the University of Texas at Austin development in exchange for the promise of operating contracts once the campus was built.
Leiweke's firm built the arena for the Los Angeles Lakers and its surrounding dining and retail venues. He also briefly led the company behind the Toronto Raptors and the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs in 2013 and was the president of the Denver Nuggets from 1991 to 1995.
Leiweke pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his legal team was planning to argue that Legends Hospitality would never have been a qualified bidder for the University of Texas project in the first place, court documents reviewed by the WSJ indicated.
Oak View Group wasn’t charged in any civil case related to Leiweke’s indictment. Leiweke stepped down as CEO of the firm and transitioned to vice chairman earlier this year after the charges were unsealed.
The organization did agree to pay $15M in penalties and $1.5M to Legends Hospitality for Oak View’s connection to Leiweke’s conduct. Neither Oak View Group nor Legends Hospitality admitted to wrongdoing.
Trump has issued more than 1,800 pardons and commutations since taking office for the second time, including several that have drawn criticism. Earlier this month, Trump pardoned the former president of Honduras, who was serving a 45-year sentence for helping smuggle 400 tons of cocaine into the United States.
