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There wasn’t much disgraced boxing coach Keely Thompson wouldn’t illicitly spend grant money on, according to the sentencing memorandum filed today in U.S. District Court. Prosecutors describe Thompson, who ran a gym for at-risk youths until he was charged in 2010 with wire fraud, as gambling four or five days a week and frequently losing a thousand dollars a night. Thompson spent $205,000 of grant money meant for kids, some of it from the District and the Children’s Youth Investment Trust Corporation, on everything from groceries and speeding tickets to a Norwegian cruise.
There’s one expense, though, that prosecutors are more reticent about. $50,000 of the money allegedly stolen by Thompson went towards what prosecutors describe only as “additional unauthorized expenditures.” Instead of discussing it in public documents, prosecutors filed another document under seal that explains how the money was spent.
The mystery $50,000 gives more credence to rumors that Thompson gave kickbacks to an elected District official and is ready to give him or her up to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. When Thompson pleaded guilty to the wire fraud charge in June, Judge Emmett Sullivan hinted in court that Thompson’s plea agreement with the government was contingent on who he could testify against.
In exchange for his help, prosecutors have agreed to drop similar charges against Thompson’s wife. Cooperating probably won’t be enough to keep Thompson himself out of jail—-today’s sentencing agreement asks Sullivan to give him between 27 and 33 months in prison.
[documentcloud url=”https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/798545-keely-sentencing.html”]
Photo by Will Sommer