BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A businessman said Tuesday his family had withdrawn an offer to donate a 22-acre Greek-themed park for use as a U.S. Olympic academy because of ethics problems in the Olympic movement.

Jim Inscoe cited several reasons -- including questions surrounding the Salt Lake Olympics and a current ethics scandal -- for his family's decision against giving the 22-acre Jasmine Hill Gardens, an area of lush lawns and reproductions of Greek statuary, to the U.S. Olympic Committee.

"Everything that happens with the Olympic Committee has to do with ethics," Inscoe told The Associated Press in an interview. "It's just one ethics problem after another."

A call to the USOC headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo., wasn't immediately returned.

Inscoe said he and his wife, Elmore, support the Olympics and wanted to do something to further the movement. They envisioned a center patterned after the International Olympic Academy in Greece.

Rather than athletic training, he said, the center they envisioned would focus on topics including ethics, management training for organizing committees, drug prevention and fighting obesity among youth.

The Denver Post, which first reported Inscoe's decision, said the total value of the contribution was $10 million -- $5 million for the garden and $5 million for upkeep. That would have made it the largest gift from an individual to the USOC.

Inscoe told AP the figures reported by the Post were incorrect but he would not elaborate. Inscoe's Jasmine Hill Foundation, a nonprofit organization which owns the gardens, listed total assets of $1.6 million, including $1.5 million in land, on 2001 tax records available for public review.

Tax records in Elmore County, where Jasmine Hill is located, list the value of 6.3 acres of the 22-acre site at $953,860. A records search couldn't immediately determine the value of the rest of the land.

The garden, a popular spot for outdoor weddings in central Alabama, closed last fall after 70 years as a tourist attraction.

The family still may be willing to make the donation if the USOC is improved, Inscoe said. "If they straighten up their problems and come back to us I'm not saying the door is locked," he said.

The USOC said this week it plans an independent investigation of whether CEO Lloyd Ward tried to help a company with ties to his brother win a contract in the Dominican Republic for the upcoming Pan American Games.

In a special session Jan. 13, a USOC ethics committee found fault with Ward's actions, saying he should have disclosed his brother's financial interest in the company. The finding was later ratified by the USOC's executive committee, but it made no move to replace him.

Five USOC officials have quit in protest since the decision. The members, including ethics compliance officer Pat Rodgers, claim the ethics committee's review was manipulated so Ward would be cleared.

In the wake of the protest, USOC president Marty Mankamyer said Monday that the USOC will create an independent group to investigate the findings by the ethics committee and the executive committee decision.

Also Monday, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Justice Department plans to send representatives to the Dominican Republic to investigate the reported deal. Justice Department spokeswoman Monica Goodling would not comment when asked by The Associated Press.

The USOC has struggled through problems in its top ranks for more than a decade. Since 2000, it has had three presidents and four chief executives. The corruption scandal tied to Salt Lake City's winning bid for the 2002 Winter Games led to the resignations or expulsions of 10 IOC members.

Mankamyer, the top-ranking volunteer, told executive committee members last week that she was going to resign, but changed her mind Thursday after three USOC ethics committee members resigned.