Update: Utah judge delays sentencing former Olympian Allison Baver as defense attorneys withdraw from case
Former Olympic speed skater Allison Baver — found guilty by a jury of money laundering and making false statements — continues to argue she didn’t intend to do anything wrong, and wants to keep $10 million she received as a Paycheck Protection Program loan for an entertainment company that prosecutors say had no employees when she applied.
U.S. District Judge Jill N. Parrish agreed on Friday to pause the forfeiture of the seized money while Baver, 44, appeals her convictions. But the judge rejected Baver’s request for more time to investigate whether prosecutors fully shared evidence with her — leaving Baver scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors in a filing last week recommended Baver be sentenced to 78 months in prison — or 6½ years — followed by five years of supervised release. A jury in June 2023 found Baver guilty of two counts of making false statements designed to influence a bank; one count of money laundering and one count of contempt.
The recommendation, filed by U.S. Attorney Trina Higgins on Oct. 8, says the proposed sentence takes into account that this is Baver’s first criminal conviction but also “appropriately reflects the seriousness of the offense.” Baver’s “blatant false statements and continued refusal to accept any responsibility puts [her] at a very high risk for recidivism,” federal prosecutors argue in the filing.
“Even now, Ms. Baver continues to push the narrative that she did nothing wrong and everyone else involved was to blame for the blatantly false statements she included on her PPP application forms,” prosecutors wrote. “And while extensively blaming others for making mistakes that led to her receiving the money, Ms. Baver inexplicably maintains that she should be allowed to keep the money.”
The sentence is on “the low-end of the sentencing guidelines range,” prosecutors wrote. The maximum sentence for false statements to a bank is 30 years per count, the filing states, while the maximum for money laundering is 10 years.
In arguing to stay the forfeiture of a bit over $9.5 million, according to court records, Baver’s defense attorneys note she “proclaims her innocence and argues there was insufficient evidence to support a guilty verdict.” Baver “asserted at trial that she acted in good faith,” based on the “ambiguous nature of the rules surrounding the PPP loan” when she applied and other evidence.
According to the prosecution’s recommendation, Baver’s counsel requested a sentence of “CTS” — credit for time served — and three years of supervision. But, according to prosecutors, Baver “received one day of jail credit for processing but has not actually served time in custody.”
Baver, who court records indicate lives in Taylorsville, was indicted on Dec. 15, 2021. The following November, her original lawyers withdrew from the case, citing the inability to reach an engagement agreement with Baver and her company, Allison Baver Entertainment, including “compensatory obligations.” In a court filing, the lawyers also wrote that “Baver has increasingly chosen to ignore the advice of counsel.”
Federal public defenders were appointed to represent Baver, which they have done since then.
In August, Baver’s lawyers filed a motion to delay her sentencing, citing an ethics complaint filed by the Washington, D.C., Bar against one of the prosecutors on Baver’s case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Muyskens had left the prosecution team on July 23, according to the court docket.
Muyskens’ departure came a week after NBC News reported that Muyskens had been accused of misconduct stemming from 2017 work in Washington, leading the attempted prosecutions of hundreds of protesters caught in a mass arrest on Jan. 20, 2017, the day Donald Trump was inaugurated as president.
The D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel accused Muyskens — who then went by Jennifer Kerkhoff — of hiding exculpatory evidence from defendants, editing videos to omit important context and then lying about her actions in court.
Federal court dockets show that between July 23 and Aug. 19, Muyskens had also withdrawn from prosecution teams in 14 other ongoing cases in Utah.
In September, NBC’s Washington, D.C., affiliate reported, Muyskens filed a response to the D.C. Bar complaint, denying the accusations. Efforts by The Salt Lake Tribune to contact the D.C. Bar on Monday were unsuccessful, as the organization’s offices were closed for Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
Parrish granted the August request for a delay, while another assistant U.S. attorney examined whether any rules about evidence sharing were violated in Baver’s case. After a random spot check, prosecutors wrote in a court filing, the investigation found “the files represented to the Court as being turned over, were in fact, turned over.”
On Sept. 19, Parrish scheduled Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, rejecting Baver’s request for more time to further investigate.
At Baver’s trial, prosecutors argued that she, as proprietor of Allison Baver Entertainment, used thousands in PPP funds — money meant to provide forgivable loans to offset costs during the COVID-19 pandemic — to pay off personal HOA dues, travel expenses, food and “other non-payroll costs.”
And while prosecutors acknowledged that Baver’s company was real, they argued none of its planned entertainment projects were “in production or even pre-production” when Baver applied for the loans in early 2020.
According to the sentencing recommendation, the money-laundering charge related to a $150,000 transfer from the PPP loan proceeds to help bankroll the movie “No Man of God,” a 2021 drama starring Elijah Wood as an FBI analyst who interviews serial killer Ted Bundy. The Internet Movie Database lists Baver as one of the film’s executive producers, and she walked the red carpet for the movie’s premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.
That movie, prosecutors said, was not among the projects mentioned when Baver applied for the $10 million PPP loan. This, prosecutors wrote, was “further evidence that the PPP loan was never about covering three months of actual payroll; it was about Ms. Baver obtaining money to pay for future film projects.”
Baver competed in short-track speed skating in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the 2006 games in Torino, Italy, and the 2010 games in Vancouver, B.C. In Vancouver, she earned a bronze medal as part of the U.S. 3,000-meter relay team.
The Tribune in July 2020 first reported on what was known about Baver’s company. After The Tribune published its report, Baver filed a notice that she intended to sue the news organization. As of Monday, she had not served The Tribune with a lawsuit.
