New York ? In a bizarre twist to the biggest judging scandal in Olympics history, a Russian allegedly tied to the mob was arrested Wednesday on federal charges of fixing two figure skating events at the Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

Alimzan Tokhtakhounov was picked up in Italy after charges were filed in New York.

Prosecutors said Tokhtakhounov arranged a vote-swapping deal in an attempt to guarantee the winners of the pairs competition and the ice dancing event.

Prosecutors allege the plan was for a French judge to vote for the Russian pairs team, which won the gold medal, and a Russian judge would vote for the French ice dancing team, which also won gold.

The scandal broke during the Olympics and resulted in a duplicate set of gold medals for the Canadian pairs team, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.

U.S. Atty. James Comey said wiretaps used in a mob investigation captured a series of telephone calls between Tokhtakhounov in Italy and unnamed conspirators during the games that “lay out a pattern of conduct that connects” the two figure skating events.

The suspect “arranged a classic quid pro quo: ‘You’ll line up support for the Russian pair; we’ll line up support for the French pair, and everybody will go away with the gold, and perhaps there’ll be a little gold for me,”‘ Comey said.

Prosecutors said that Tokhtakhounov hoped he would be rewarded with a visa to return to France, where he once lived.

It was unclear late Wednesday whether Tokhtakhounov had an attorney.

The pairs champions, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, won the gold by the slimmest of margins over the Canadians. But the next day, French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne said she’d been pressured to vote for the Russians, who slipped during their routine while the Canadians were virtually flawless.

Le Gougne later recanted but still was suspended, as was the head of the French skating federation, Didier Gailhaguet. Neither returned telephone messages seeking comment, but Le Gougne’s Salt Lake City-based lawyer, Erik Christiansen, said she “has no involvement and no knowledge of this person or these allegations.”

A week after the pairs competition, the ice dancing team of Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat won France’s first gold in figure skating since 1932. Anissina was born in Russia. A Russian team took silver.

Asked about the charges, Peizerat told The Associated Press: “I have never heard of this man.”

Tokhtakhounov was arrested at his resort in Forte dei Marmi in northern Italy. He is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit bribery relating to sporting contests. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.

History of trouble

The criminal complaint identified Tokhtakhounov as a “major figure in international Eurasian Organized Crime.”

It also said Tokhtakhounov “has been involved in drug distribution, illegal arms sales and trafficking in stolen vehicles.” The FBI said he fixed beauty pageants in Moscow in the early 1990s.

The complaint alleges he used his influence with members of the Russian and French skating federations “to fix the outcome of the pairs and ice dancing competitions at the 2002 Olympics.”

Investigators said they obtained recorded telephone conversations between Tokhtakhounov and a French ice dancer in which he brags about being able to influence the outcome of competitions, a senior law enforcement official said on condition of anonymity.

The official was not certain whether the ice dancer was one of the winning team members.

The complaint made clear that the case was based on confidential informants and wiretaps. At one point, it said wiretaps caught the defendant talking to a female ice dancer’s mother, telling her, “We are going to make your daughter an Olympic champion even if she falls, we will make sure she is No. 1.”

‘Deeply concerned’

Skating officials said they were stunned by the allegations.

Lloyd Ward, head of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said the organization was “deeply concerned.”

“American athletes and the competitors from all nations must be assured that they compete on a level playing field,” he said.

Giselle Davies, spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee, said: “This kind of alleged activity has no place in the Olympic movement.”

Pam Coburn, head of Skate Canada, added, “The severity of these allegations is shocking.”

While the pairs controversy dominated the headlines, ice dancing was a point of controversy at the games.

Lithuanians Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas, who finished fifth, filed a protest questioning voting that placed them lower than Italian and Canadian couples who fell during the free dance, the final phase of the competition. The International Skating Union rejected the protest.

The Lithuanians said they didn’t expect to win their appeal but came forward to generate publicity and expose judging inconsistencies.

“We wouldn’t have done it unless there was such a stark realization that something was wrong, especially with the two skaters falling,” said John Domanskis, spokesman for the Lithuanian Olympic team. “That certainly made it easier for our skaters to say, ‘Yes, there is a problem, and it should be corrected.”‘