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Marion Jones' longtime agent faces banishment

Wells pleads guilty to bank fraud; fate to be determined at USATF hearing

Jones
Darron Cummings / AP
Marion Jones’ longtime agent could be decertified by USA Track & Field after he pleaded guilty to bank fraud.
updated 4:35 p.m. ET June 21, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS - Marion Jones’ longtime agent could be decertified by USA Track & Field after he pleaded guilty to bank fraud.

The agent, Charles Wells, is facing a review by a three-member committee, USATF chief executive officer Craig Masback said Thursday during a “state of the sport” news conference at the national championships.

It would be the first time an agent has “been decertified through this process,” Masback said. The committee has one agent, one athlete and one legal expert.

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Wells did not immediately return a voice mail message Thursday requesting comment.

In a case that also involved Jones’ coach and the father of her child, Wells entered a guilty plea in federal court in March. Prosecutors said he played a minor role in a scam that used track and field figures to cash and launder millions of dollars in forged or counterfeit checks over several years.

In addition to Jones, the only woman to win five track medals in an Olympics, Wells has represented reigning world triple jump champion Walter Davis, 2004 Olympic 400-meter bronze medalist Derrick Brew and 2004 Olympic relay gold medalist Monique Henderson.

Wells is president of Vector Sports Management. Masback wasn’t sure when his status as an agent would be determined.

“I know they have great interest in moving along as quickly as possible,” Masback said.

He addressed a number of topics Thursday and, not surprisingly, painted a rosy picture of track’s place on the sports landscape.

Masback said the USATF’s goal is to win more medals at this year’s world championships in Osaka, Japan, and next year’s Beijing Olympics than the 25 the country claimed both at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2005 world championships.

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“Our goal in Osaka is to add incrementally to that number, establish that as a base and try to grow off of that with the idea that we will grow further in Beijing if possible,” Masback said. “That’s a very ambitious goal, but one that we’ve put in front of ourselves.”

On other topics, Masback said:

  • He expects the sport’s international governing body, the IAAF, to increase the first penalty for a doping offense from two years to four years, a move sought by the USATF.
  • For the first time, athletes competing at these U.S. championships had to say who their coaches are. This is part of a new “registered coach” program that involves what he called “rigorous background checks” and is part of efforts to fight doping.
  • He doesn’t expect the United States to bid to host track and field’s world championships any time soon, calling it “extremely unlikely in the short term — we don’t have a suitable stadium.” Masback also noted that countries that host the meet usually make significant government investment in the event.

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