Montgomery was released on a bond of $10,000

New York: Olympic gold-medallist Tim Montgomery has been arrested on charges he was connected to a multimillion-dollar bank fraud and money laundering scheme, prosecutors said.

A grand jury indictment unsealed in New York accused the star sprinter, his gold-medallist track coach, Steven Riddick, and 12 other people of being involved in a conspiracy that deposited $5 million in stolen, altered or counterfeit checks over three years.

Some of the money was laundered through two businesses owned by a New York couple accused of being behind the scam, according to the indictment.

Montgomery, the former 100m world record-holder, surrendered to US immigration and customs enforcement agents in Norfolk (Virginia) on Friday.

He was released on $10,000 bond hours later.

Investigators accused Montgomery of being a lesser player in a scheme hatched by lead defendants Douglas Shyne and Natasha Singh.

Shyne and Singh ae accused of setting up sham businesses to take cheques stolen from banks and either alter them or make counterfeit copies.

Most of the cheques involved accounts at large companies that didn’t immediately notice the cash missing, federal agents said. (AP)