IOC could lose $5million

This story was first reported by the Wall Street Journal on Friday.

No biggie.

The International Olympic Committee is in much better shape financially than most other organizations that size. They won’t be downsizing.

larger original – flickr – cool_colonia4711

IOC finance commission chairman Richard Carrion told The Associated Press the Olympic body has about $4.8 million at risk in the alleged Ponzi scheme by Bernard Madoff. …

A week ago, Carrion said the IOC has financial reserves of more than $400 million – a fund designed to keep the Olympics afloat in the event of the games being canceled.

“It’s a little over 1 percent of the money in the portfolio,” Carrion said of the funds tied to Madoff. “It is possible that we could lose a substantial portion of that. That is not something that makes us very happy.” …

At an IOC meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, last week, Carrion said the amount of money in the IOC reserves had dropped about 14 percent in recent months due to the fall in stock prices and the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the IOC’s non-dollar investments. On Saturday, Carrion reiterated that other monies are hurting the IOC more.

“Probably the improvement of the other currencies vis-a-vis the dollar is bigger,” Carrion said. “We’ll have to see when all the dust settles how much is lost.”

Moreau, the IOC spokeswoman, said the organization’s financial foundation was solid “due to a conservative budgeting and investment strategy.”

“We have already reached agreements with nine partners through 2012 … and broadcast rights have been secured for the vast majority of territories for games in 2010 and 2012,” she said in an e-mail.

Moreau also said the host cities of the next three Olympics are all financially sound.

“As of today, we have received assurances from all Organizing Committees (Vancouver 2010, London 2012 and Sochi 2014) that they will meet their obligations and are taking appropriate steps to manage any financial risks,” Moreau said.

Team USA – IOC has nearly $5 million tied to Madoff