Lawsuit Seeks to Ban Lee, Institute Court Control of IBF

Contending that the IBF is corrupt, federal prosecutors Monday asked a judge to appoint an overseer for one of boxing’s major governing bodies.

The monitor would replace IBF President Robert Lee Sr., who was indicted this month on criminal bribery charges.

A civil racketeering lawsuit filed Monday against the IBF seeks to ban Lee and his criminal co-defendants from boxing.

The IBF would become the first sports group--and one of only a dozen entities, mostly labor unions--to be placed under court control through the 20-year-old Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO), U.S. Attorney Robert Cleary said.

The indictment and RICO suit “will be a devastating one-two combination that we hope will knock out the cycle of corruption that has plagued the IBF virtually since its inception,” said Cleary, whose office has been investigating the IBF, based in East Orange, N.J., for several years.

The IBF rankings, which play a large role in a boxer’s economic success, have been “bastardized” in nearly all weight classes, Cleary said.

Cleary said the former U.S. attorney for Brooklyn, N.Y., Zachary Carter, is his office’s choice to become the IBF monitor. Carter left that office last summer after six years in which he prosecuted police in the Abner Louima assault.

Prosecutors will ask a federal judge today to approve Carter as monitor and grant him subpoena powers. They also are asking that he be granted the power to hire, fire, change bylaws, file lawsuits and refer matters for possible criminal prosecution.

Although he has no experience in boxing, Carter was chosen because of his integrity and his investigative and management ability, Cleary said.

If selected, Carter, 49, will be able to bring in experts in boxing and accounting to operate the IBF and rehabilitate it so it can eventually be returned to its owners. The government is seeking to force Lee to divest himself of his majority ownership.

Attorneys for the IBF and Lee said they would oppose the installation of a monitor.

“Never before has the federal government tried to take over a company in the entertainment industry,” said IBF lawyer Linda Torres, adding that boxing is not a regulated industry, like trash hauling or unions, and there have been no allegations of mob connections.

Boxing promoter Dan Goossen of America Presents Boxing approves of the request for a monitor.

“This is a way to establish a comfort level for all the IBF participants, the champions and contenders, to proceed until Bobby Lee has his day in court,” Goossen said.

Rep. Mike Oxley (R-Ohio), among those pushing boxing reform measures through Capitol Hill, said he could think of no comparable government action “since Judge [Kennesaw Mountain] Landis basically took over the reins of major league baseball after the Black Sox scandal of 1919.”

“I think it’s a strong indication that the prosecutors feel very strongly that not only the leadership but the entire IBF is rife with corruption,” said Oxley, whose bill includes provisions for sanctioning groups to make financial disclosure.

Lee and others in the IBF were indicted on charges they solicited $338,000 in bribes the past 13 years to fix IBF rankings. They have pleaded not guilty, and their trial could start as early as Jan. 11.