International Motorsports CEO arrested.

OCC: Yeah. Wanted to stir the pot a little.

International Motorsports CEO arrested

Moscow, Russia - The CEO for the racing empire International Motorsports, Yevgeny Korotkev, was arrested at his Moscow home yesterday for embezzlement and racketeering schemes and ties to the Russian mafia, Russian police said.

Russian police said that the team owner had ties to the mafia for about twenty years, and was involved in a variety of illegal gambling and racketeering schemes. The raid at Korotkev's house, a gigantic mansion, uncovered bizarre crime franchises for the racing owner, including one million dollars worth of drugs, an illegal animal fighting ring that supposedly brought in over 100,000 dollars for Korotkev, and management files to a bootleg merchandise empire with locations in Russia, the former USSR and eastern Europe, and parts of China. Motorsports insiders suspect that Korotkev's drug stash was not for illegal distribution, but for his own habit, as Korotkev seemed frantic and zombie like by some at his appearances at races contested by his team, and he had various encounters with the law with local police forces.

Other top leaders of International Motorsports have been arrested in crimes relating to the case, both in Russia and abroad. The team was started in the mid 90's by Korotkev, to "showcase the racing talents of the drivers from the former eastern bloc to the world", as the team's website stated. The team started racing in various European touring car championships, having mixed success in it's years. They eventually moved onto Asian and Western European championships, and starting in the 2000's, moved onto North America, where they currently run the #152 car of Zambian national Mumba Kumangu in the ARLA Elite Series.

Though most of the team's international leaders have been arrested, most of the cars the team fields in it's various championships still pledge to run the last remaining races of they respective leagues. The local owners of the #152, for example, have issues a press release stating they have "no ties" to the Russian leadership of the team, and will run the last remaining ARLA races at Decatur and Rockford.

It is currently unknown what future the team has, or if any of the leagues it competes in will see them return for 2012.