The Romney campaign repeatedly declined to say Thursday evening whether the Republican presidential candidate attended any meetings or had any contact with Bain Capital during the time he ran the Olympic Games. 
 
 Mitt Romney’s relationship with Bain has become a flashpoint in the presidential race as Democrats seek to tie him to corporate decisions made after 1999, when he took a leave from the private equity company to administer the Salt Lake City games until their completion in early 2002. The Boston Globe and other outlets reported this week that SEC documents show Romney was listed as a top executive until 2002. 
 
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 Romney’s spokespeople have denied that he had any management role in the company during the time he was involved with the games, despite maintaining legal and financial connections to Bain. They say the title listed in SEC filings was an in-name-only position Romney maintained while on leave. 
 
 The former Massachusetts governor, however, has previously acknowledged that he remained active in the corporate arena while heading the Salt Lake City games. In a June 17, 2002, appearance before the Massachusetts State Law Ballot Commission, Romney said that during his Utah-based Olympics service, there were “were a number of social trips and business trips that brought me back to Massachusetts, board meetings, Thanksgiving and so forth.” 
 
 How much time Romney did or didn’t spend in Massachusetts in the years prior to 2002 became an issue when he ran for governor due to questions about his state residency. 
 
 Romney testified about his residency after Democrats challenged his eligibility to run in Massachusetts after having been based out of state. The election panel signed off on his candidacy. 
 
 Romney didn’t mention Bain Capital in his testimony as one of the companies with which he continued to work while leading the Olympic committee. Asked whether Romney attended any meetings or participated in any phone calls for Bain — as he did for other firms — a Romney spokeswoman reiterated that the candidate didn’t have an “active role” in the company during that time. 
 
 “As we’ve said countless times, since Feb. 11, 1999, Gov. Romney has not had any active role with Bain Capital,” Romney press secretary Andrea Saul said. 
 
 Earlier Thursday, the campaign released a statement from former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu mocking the idea that Romney could have been engaged with the Olympics and Bain at the same time. 
 
 “The Obama campaign must think Mitt Romney is Superman. He was, in reality, rescuing the Olympics by working in Utah 24/7 for the years the Obama campaign also alleges he was running Bain Capital,” Sununu said. “Even though the Obama campaign may be wrong about his involvement in Bain Capital, it shows that even they can admit Mitt Romney is a great leader.” ||||| Obama campaign: ‘Severe consequences’ if Romney committed felony with Bain lies 
 
 By David Edwards 
 
 Thursday, July 12, 2012 12:30 EDT 
 
 Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney may be guilty of federal felony if he lied to the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) about when he ceded control of Bain Capital, President Barack Obama’s campaign suggested on Thursday. 
 
 The Boston Globe reported on Thursday that SEC documents showed that Romney continued to serve as Bain’s “sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president” until 2002 — even though he has repeatedly claimed that he left the company in 1999. 
 
 In an attempt to defend against claims that Romney was Bain’s CEO during the period that the company invested in firms that moved American jobs to countries like China, FactCheck.org may have accidentally revealed that the GOP candidate committed a “federal felony.” 
 
 “In fact, if the Obama campaign were correct, Romney would be guilty of a federal felony by certifying on federal financial disclosure forms that he left active management of Bain Capital in February 1999,” FactCheck.org wrote before the The Boston Globe‘s report came to light. 
 
 Obama campaign lawyer Robert Bauer noted on Thursday that there could be “severe consequences” for individuals and companies that lied to the SEC. 
 
 “If in fact as he now claims that he was not active with the company, that he was not the controlling person that is described here, that means that these statements are false and as I said, there are very, very serious legal consequences that would follow,” Bauer explained. 
 
 “Of particular consequence would be a misrepresentation that involves a controlling person,” he added. “And as these representations show, Romney is the controlling person. You know, he is the person who is the sole stockholder, the chairman of the board, the chief executive officer and the president. And the consequences for the controlling person of this sort of potential misrepresentation — and frankly on this record, it appears by his own words — absolute misrepresentation because he’s now saying none of this matters, none of this is true.” 
 
 “[It's] very, very serious. And in the normal course would subject somebody in this position to every manner of investigation with all the consequences that you can imagine that would follow.” 
 
 For its part, the Romney campaign has claimed that the Globe article is simply incorrect. 
 
 “The article is not accurate,” Romney press secretary Andrea Saul said on Thursday. “As Bain Capital has said, as Governor Romney has said, and as has been confirmed by independent fact checkers multiple times, Governor Romney left Bain Capital in February of 1999 to run the Olympics and had no input on investments or management of companies after that point.” 
 
 And Romney adviser Matt McDonald told Politico that the FactCheck.org analysis had been misunderstood. 
 
 “FactCheck was saying, if Mitt Romney was actively managing Bain, as the Globe asserts, and he certified that he wasn’t actively managing Bain, then he would be guilty of a federal felony,” McDonald said. “They are not saying that he would be guilty of a federal felony [just] for saying he left in 1999.”
– If Mitt Romney wasn't actually Bain Capital's CEO in 2002, there could be "very, very serious legal consequences," an Obama campaign lawyer told reporters yesterday. Romney has said publicly that he left Bain in 1999, but the Boston Globe yesterday reported that Bain SEC filings indicate he controlled the company until 2002. If he wasn't actually in charge, which his campaign continues to insist, then he would appear to have committed a felony by misrepresenting his position to the SEC, Raw Story reports. "[It's] very, very serious," Obama lawyer Robert Bauer said on a conference call. "And in the normal course would subject somebody in this position to every manner of investigation with all the consequences that you can imagine." Politico also notes that while running for governor in 2002, Romney said he often returned to Massachusetts for "business trips" and "board meetings." At the time, that was in Romney's best interests because there were questions about his residency and eligibility to run for governor.