Owners of Olympic winner's training rink guilty of fraud
HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) -- The founders of the Connecticut International Skating Center, where a 2002 Olympic gold medal winner trained, pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the embezzlement of more than $3 million.
Denise Budnick admitted in U.S. District Court on Monday that she stole the money between 1998 to 2000 from Connecticut Attorneys' Title Insurance Co., where she was assistant treasurer.
Budnick pleaded guilty to mail fraud, and both she and her ex-husband, Douglas Budnick, pleaded guilty to filing a false 1999 federal income tax return. They did not report nearly $2.2 million in embezzled funds.
Denise Budnick said the money went for construction costs and mortgages for the skating center, which opened in 1999 in the Hartford suburb of Newington. Among those who train there are Russian skater Alexei Yagudin, winner of Olympic gold in men's figure skating last year, and Naomi Lang and Peter Tchernyshev, the five-time U.S. champions in ice dancing.
Denise Budnick said she wrote checks to herself and to the skating center, and hid the scheme by altering the insurance company's monthly financial statements.
She faces up to eight years in prison and $350,000 in fines when she is sentenced May 15. Her ex-husband faces up to three years in prison and a $100,000 fine at sentencing May 23.
The Budnicks still own the skating rink, but a judge in December placed the rink in receivership after lawsuits revealed a raft of financial woes and back taxes.
Copyright 2003 The
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
