[84.B] FUTEBOL: FIFA under US Department of Justice, IRS & FBI Investigation - Blitzkrieg May, 27, 2015.

PART B – English texts [articles & documents] 
revision_07 - 20 articles / documents - 29may2015

FIFA 
under US Department of Justice & FBI Investigation

(May,27,2015)

[84.B.1] FOOTBALL GOVERNANCE

Statement: FIFA is fully cooperating as injured party in the actions by Swiss authorities

(FIFA.com) 27 May 2015

http://www.fifa.com/governance/news/y=2015/m=5/news=fifa-is-fully-cooperating-as-injured-party-in-the-actions-by-swiss-aut-2609130.html?intcmp=fifacom_hp_module_news

1. FIFA welcomes actions that can help contribute to rooting out any wrongdoing in football. We understand that today’s actions by the Swiss Federal Office of Justice on behalf of the US authorities and the Swiss Office of the Attorney General (initiated by FIFA through the submission of the file on the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup bidding process) relate to different matters.
2. Firstly, the arrest of six individuals this morning in Zurich concerns investigations by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of the State of New York. The Swiss authorities, acting on behalf of their US counterparts, arrested the individuals for activities carried out in relation with CONCACAF and CONMEBOL business.
3. The second instance follows FIFA’s initiative of presenting the file on the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup™ bidding process to the Swiss Office of the Attorney General in November 2014. The authorities are taking the opportunity of the FIFA Congress to interview those FIFA Executive Committee members who are not Swiss residents who voted back in 2010 and are still in office.
4. Today, the Swiss Office of the Attorney General announced that it has opened criminal proceedings against persons unknown in relation to the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup™ bidding process.
5. FIFA is fully cooperating with the investigation and is supporting the collection of evidence in this regard. As noted by the Swiss authorities, this collection of evidence is being carried out on a cooperative basis.
6. We are pleased to see that the investigation is being energetically pursued for the good of football and believe that it will help to reinforce measures that FIFA has already taken.

[84.B.2] FOOTBALL GOVERNANCE

Independent Ethics Committee bans 11 individuals from football-related activities

(FIFA.com) 27 May 2015

http://www.fifa.com/governance/news/y=2015/m=5/news=independent-ethics-committee-bans-11-individuals-from-football-related-2609267.html

1. On the basis of investigations carried out by the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee and the latest facts presented by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, Hans-Joachim ECKERT, today banned provisionally 11 individuals from carrying out any football-related activities on a national and international level.
2. The decision was taken upon the request of the chairman of the investigatory chamber, Dr Cornel Borbély, based on art. 83 par.1 of the FIFA Code of Ethics.
3. “The charges are clearly related to football and are of such a serious nature that it was imperative to take swift and immediate action. The proceedings will follow their course in line with the FIFA Code of Ethics,” said Chairman Eckert.
4. The banned individuals are: Jeffrey Webb, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Jack Warner, Eugenio Figueredo, Rafael Esquivel, JOSÉ MARIA MARIN, Nicolás Leoz, Chuck Blazer and Daryll Warner.

[84.B.3] FIFA PRESIDENT

Statement by FIFA President Blatter

(FIFA.com) 27 May 2015

http://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/news/y=2015/m=5/news=statement-by-fifa-president-blatter-2609360.html?intcmp=fifacom_hp_module_news_top

  

1. This is a difficult time for football, the fans and for FIFA as an organisation. We understand the disappointment that many have expressed and I know that the events of today will impact the way in which many people view us.
2. As unfortunate as these events are, it should be clear that we welcome the actions and the investigations by the US and Swiss authorities and believe that it will help to reinforce measures that FIFA has already taken to root out any wrongdoing in football.
3. While there will be many who are frustrated with the pace of change, I would like to stress the actions that we have taken and will continue to take. In fact, today’s action by the Swiss Office of the Attorney General was set in motion when we submitted a dossier to the Swiss authorities late last year.
4. Let me be clear: such misconduct has no place in football and we will ensure that those who engage in it are put out of the game. Following the events of today, the independent Ethics Committee – which is in the midst of its own proceedings regarding the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups - took swift action to provisionally ban those individuals named by the authorities from any football-related activities at the national and international level. These actions are on top of similar steps that FIFA has taken over the past year to exclude any members who violate our own Code of Ethics.
5. We will continue to work with the relevant authorities and we will work vigorously within FIFA in order to root out any misconduct, to regain your trust and ensure that football worldwide is free from wrongdoing.

[84.B.4] THE NEW YORK TIMES / SOCCER & fifa

FIFA Inquiry Yields Indictments; U.S. Officials Vow to Pursue More [27,May,2015]

THE NEW YORK TIMES / SOCCER

By MATT APUZZO, STEPHANIE CLIFFORD and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM

Michael S. Schmidt and Sam Borden contributed reporting from Zurich.

MAY 27, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/sports/soccer/fifa-officials-arrested-on-corruption-charges-blatter-isnt-among-them.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

1.     United States law enforcement officials declared in forceful terms on Wednesday that their broad investigation of FIFA had only begun and pledged to rid the international soccer organization of systemic corruption.

2. The Justice Department, F.B.I. and I.R.S. described soccer’s governing body in terms normally reserved for Mafia families and drug cartels, saying that top officials treated FIFA business decisions as chits to be traded for personal wealth. One soccer official took in more than $10 million in bribes, Attorney General LORETTA E. LYNCH said.
3. The schemes involving the fraud included the selection of South Africa as the host of the 2010 World Cup; the 2011 FIFA presidential elections; and several sports-marketing deals.
4. “These individuals and organizations engaged in bribery to decide who would televise games, where the games would be held, and who would run the organization overseeing organized soccer worldwide,” said Ms. Lynch, who supervised the investigation from its earliest stages.
5. The Department of Justice indictment names 14 people on charges including racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. In addition to senior soccer officials, the indictment also named sports-marketing executives from the United States and South America who are accused of paying more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for media deals associated with major soccer tournaments.
6. The soccer officials charged are EDUARDO LI, JEFFREY WEBB, EUGENIO FIGUEREDO, JACK WARNER, JULIO ROCHA, COSTAS TAKKAS, RAFAEL ESQUIVEL, JOSÉ MARIA MARIN and NICOLÁS LEOZ.
7. The promise that the investigation would continue raised the specter of more arrests, but officials would not comment on whether they were investigating Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president and the man widely regarded as the most powerful person in sports. One federal law enforcement official said Mr. Blatter’s fate would “depend on where the investigation goes from here.”
8. “This is the beginning of our effort, not the end,” said KELLY T. CURRIE, acting United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Indeed, the indictment refers to 25 unnamed co-conspirators, from FIFA officials to a South Africa World Cup bid committee official. “We are looking into individuals and entities in a variety of countries,” said Mr. Currie, who noted that the investigation would also look at financial institutions that handled the tainted money to see if they were cognizant of the fraud.
9. The government is pursuing a “very aggressive prosecutorial response in order to change behavior,” JAMES B. COMEY, director of the FBI, said.
10. Some of the payments were funneled through intricate schemes. After committing fraud, bribery and money laundering, prosecutors wrote, defendants covered up those payments in various ways: using fake consulting contracts to funnel illegal payments; sending money through associates working in banking or currency dealing; creating shell companies in tax havens; hiding foreign bank accounts; using safe deposit boxes; and “bulk cash smuggling.”
11. And some payments were old-fashioned bribes, like one involving South Africa’s bid for the 2010 World Cup. Mr. Warner, then a member of the FIFA executive committee, directed an associate to fly to Paris, accept a briefcase full of cash in $10,000 stacks from a South African bid committee member in a hotel room, and return the briefcase to Mr. Warner in Trinidad.
12. Later, a Moroccan bid committee member offered Mr. Warner $1 million in exchange for his vote, but that person was outmaneuvered: the South African bid committee had arranged a $10 million bribe in exchange for the votes of Mr. Warner and two co-conspirators on South Africa’s behalf. All three ultimately voted for South Africa, the indictment says.
13. The plan involving the 2011 FIFA election also involved Mr. Warner. An unnamed co-conspirator, identified as “a high-ranking official at FIFA and AFC” who was running for FIFA president, reached out to Mr. Warner. The co-conspirator said he wanted to address soccer officials about his candidacy, and asked Mr. Warner to assemble those officials. The co-conspirator wired Mr. Warner $363,537.98.
14. At a May 2011 meeting that Mr. Warner called with Caribbean Football Union officials at the Hyatt Regency in Trinidad, the co-conspirator addressed the officials, then Mr. Warner told officials to pick up a “gift” in a certain conference room. The gift was $40,000 in cash, delivered in envelopes.
15. The next morning, Mr. Warner called the C.F.U. officials to another meeting, angered that one of the C.F.U. officials had alerted Concacaf to the payments. “There are some people here who think they are more pious than thou,” he said. “If you’re pious, open a church, friends. Our business is our business.”
16. Even facilitating the bribes was lucrative: José Margulies, who ran two soccer broadcasting companies, helped funnel money between officials and those seeking officials’ favor. He covered up his payments, shredding papers, telling soccer officials to use accounts that were not in their own name, and using currency dealers to hide the payments.
17. His was apparently a lucrative job: in 2014, he offered to handle a bribe for a sports-marketing company he had not worked with before. His charge for his services: $150,000 annual fee and a 2 percent commission per payment.
18. Swiss authorities, working in conjunction with United States officials, conducted an extraordinary early-morning operation in Zurich on Wednesday to arrest several top soccer officials and extradite them to the United States on federal corruption charges.
19. As leaders of FIFA gathered for their annual meeting, more than a dozen plainclothes Swiss law enforcement officials arrived unannounced at the Baur au Lac hotel, an elegant five-star property with views of the Alps and Lake Zurich. They went to the front desk to get room numbers and then proceeded upstairs.

Jack Warner, a former FIFA vice president, is among those expected to face charges in the United States.

CreditLuis Acosta/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

20. The arrests were carried out peacefully. One FIFA official, Mr. Li, was led by the authorities from his room to a side-door exit of the hotel. He was allowed to bring his luggage, which was adorned with FIFA logos.
21. The charges, backed by an F.B.I. investigation, allege widespread corruption in FIFA over the past two decades, involving bids for World Cups as well as marketing and broadcast deals.
22. Several hours after the soccer officials were apprehended at the hotel, Swiss authorities said that they had opened criminal cases related to the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups — incidents that, more than any others, encapsulated FIFA’s unusual power dynamic. “In the course of said proceedings,” the Swiss officials said, “electronic data and documents were seized today at FIFA’s head office in Zurich.”
23. The arrests were a startling blow to FIFA, a multibillion-dollar organization that governs the world’s most popular sport but has been plagued by accusations of bribery for decades.
24. The inquiry is also a major threat to Mr. Blatter, who has for years acted as a de facto head of state. Politicians, star players, national soccer officials and global corporations that want their brands attached to the sport have long genuflected before him.
25. An election, seemingly preordained to give Mr. Blatter a fifth term as president, is scheduled for Friday. A FIFA spokesman insisted at the news conference that Mr. Blatter was not involved in any alleged wrongdoing and that the election would go ahead as planned.
26. “FIFA welcomes actions that can help contribute to rooting out any wrongdoing in football,” the organization said in a statement.
27. Charges were also made against the sports-marketing executives Alejandro Burzaco, Aaron Davidson, Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis. Authorities also charged Margulies as an intermediary who facilitated illegal payments.
28. The Justice Department built its case with help from a former FIFA executive, Chuck Blazer, who secretly pleaded guilty in federal court in 2013. Mr. Blazer forfeited $1.9 million when he entered his guilty plea and agreed to make a second payment at sentencing.

29. With more than $1.5 billion in reserves, FIFA is as much a global financial conglomerate as a sports organization. With countries around the world competing aggressively to win the bid to host the World Cup, Mr. Blatter has commanded the fealty of anyone who wanted a piece of that revenue stream. He and FIFA have weathered corruption controversies in the past, but none involved charges of federal crimes in United States court.

30. United States law gives the Justice Department wide authority to bring cases against foreign nationals living abroad, an authority that prosecutors have used repeatedly in international terrorism cases. Those cases can hinge on the slightest connection to the United States, like the use of an American bank or Internet service provider.
31. Switzerland’s treaty with the United States is unusual in that it gives Swiss authorities the power to refuse extradition for tax crimes, but on matters of general criminal law, the Swiss have agreed to turn people over for prosecution in American courts.
32. Critics of FIFA point to the lack of transparency regarding executive salaries and resource allocations for an organization that, by its own admission, had revenue of $5.7 billion from 2011 to 2014. Policy decisions are also often taken without debate or explanation, and a small group of officials — known as the executive committee — operates with outsize power. FIFA has for years functioned with little oversight and even less transparency. Alexandra Wrage, a governance consultant who once unsuccessfully attempted to help overhaul FIFA’s methods, labeled the organization “byzantine and impenetrable.”
33. Law enforcement officials said much of the inquiry involves Concacaf, one of the six regional confederations that compose FIFA. Concacaf — which stands for Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football — includes major countries like the United States and Mexico, and also tiny ones like Barbados and Montserrat.
34. According to the indictment, several international soccer events were tainted by bribes and kickbacks involving media and marketing rights: World Cup qualifiers in the Concacaf region; the Gold Cup, a regional championship tournament; the Concacaf Champions League; the Copa América; and the South American club championship, the Copa Libertadores. The indictment also claims that bribes and kickbacks were found in connection with the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup.
35. Concacaf was led from 1990 to 2011 by Mr. Warner, the longtime head of Trinidad and Tobago’s federation. A key power broker in FIFA’s governing executive committee, Mr. Warner had been dogged by accusations of corruption. He was accused of illegally profiting from the resale of tickets to the 2006 World Cup and of withholding the bonuses of the Trinidad players who participated in that tournament.
36. Mr. Warner resigned his positions in FIFA, Concacaf and his national association in 2011 amid mounting evidence that he had been part of an attempt to buy the votes of Caribbean federation officials in the 2011 FIFA presidential election. A 2013 Concacaf report also found that he had received tens of millions of dollars in misappropriated funds.

37. But according to the rules of FIFA at the time, Mr. Warner’s resignation led to the immediate closure of all ethics committee cases against him. “The presumption of innocence is maintained,” FIFA said in a short statement announcing his departure.
38. Many critics found the bid process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to be flawed from the start: The decision to award two tournaments at once, they said, would invite vote-trading and other inducements. Since only the 24 members of the executive committee would decide on the hosts, persuading even a few of them might be enough to swing the vote.
39. Even before the vote took place, two committee members — AMOS ADAMU of Nigeria and REYNALD TEMARII of Tahiti — were suspended after an investigation by The Sunday Times caught both men on tape asking for payments in exchange for their support.
40. It was later revealed by England’s bid chief that four ExCo members had solicited bribes from him for their votes; one asked for $2.5 million, while another, NICOLAS LEOZ of Paraguay, requested a knighthood.
41. As new accounts of bribery continued to emerge — a whistle-blower who worked for the Qatar bid team claimed that several African officials were paid $1.5 million each to support Qatar — FIFA in 2012 started an investigation of the bid process.
42. It was led by a former United States attorney, MICHAEL J. GARCIA, who spent nearly two years compiling a report.
43. That report, however, has never been made public; instead, the top judge on the ethics committee, the German HANS-JOACHIM ECKERT, released a summary of the report. In it, he declared that while violations of the code of ethics had occurred, they had not affected the integrity of the vote.
44. Within hours, Mr. Garcia had criticized Mr. Eckert’s summary as incorrect and incomplete, charging that it contained “numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts.”
45. Nonetheless, FIFAmoved quickly to embrace the report’s absolution of the bid process. Qatar World Cup officials said the review had upheld “the integrity and quality of our bid,” and Russia’s sports minister, VITALY MUTKO, told reporters, “I hope we will not have talk about this again.”
46. The issue was, in fact, raised again Wednesday. When pressed by reporters at the news conference, WALTER DE GREGORIO, a FIFA spokesman, repeatedly said that FIFA would not consider reopening the bid process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Correction: May 27, 2015

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated the year of the FIFA presidential election that Jack Warner was suspected of attempting to influence. It was 2011, not 2010.

Michael S. Schmidt and Sam Borden contributed reporting from Zurich.

REPORTS FROM ZURICH

Matt Apuzzo@mattapuzzo

Source says 14 people are charged in FIFA indictment. Some soccer officials, some media/marketing execs. Stay tuned:

http://t.co/J774VJ0gdK

13 hours ago·ReplyRetweetFavorite

[NYT] How the Indicted Officials Fit Into FIFA

By LARRY BUCHANAN, TOM GIRATIKANON and KAREN YOURISH

MAY 27, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/05/27/sports/soccer/fifa-indictments.html

Here are the high-ranking soccer officials and sports executives caught up in the FIFA corruption investigation.

RELATED ARTICLE

PRESIDENT

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENTS

There are eight. One former and two current vice presidents were indicted.

OUTGOING V.P.

EUGENIO FIGUEREDO

Uruguay, United States | Outgoing FIFA vice president | Former president of Conmebol, the South American federation | Former president of the Uruguayan soccer federation

FORMER V.P.

JACK WARNER

Trinidad and Tobago | Former FIFA vice president | Former Concacaf president | Former president of Caribbean football union

CURRENT V.P.

JEFFREY WEBB

Cayman Islands | Current FIFA vice president | President of Concacaf, the regional confederation representing North and Central America and the Caribbean | President of the Cayman Islands football association

ATTACHE TO MR. WEBB

COSTAS TAKKAS

Attaché to Mr. Webb in Mr. Webb’s role as president of Concacaf | Former general secretary of Cayman Islands federation

OTHER EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS

There are 15 other members of the executive committee, appointed by confederations and associations. One former member and one member-elect were indicted.

FORMER MEMBER

NICOLÁS LEOZ

Paraguay | Former member of FIFA executive committee | Former president of Conmebol

CURRENT MEMBER

EDUARDO LI

Costa Rica | President of Costa Rican federation | Concacaf executive committee member | Member-elect of FIFA executive committee

OTHER FIFA OFFICIALS

JULIO ROCHA

Nicaragua | FIFA development officer | Former president of Nicaraguan soccer federation | Former president of Central American football union

JOSÉ MARIA MARIN

BRAZIL

| Former president of Brazil’s federation | Member of FIFA organizing committee for Olympic soccer tournaments

RAFAEL ESQUIVEL

Venezuela | President of Venezuelan soccer federation | Conmebol executive committee member

SPORTS MARKETING EXECUTIVES

ALEJANDRO BURZACO

Argentina

AARON DAVIDSON

United States

HUGO JINKIS

Argentina

MARIANO JINKIS

Argentina

BROADCASTING EXECUTIVE

JOSÉ MARGULIES

BRAZIL

[84.B.5] FIFA under US Department of Justice & FBI Investigation

(May,27,2015)

A Procuradora-geral de Justiça dos Estados Unidos, LORETTA LYNCH, iniciou nesta quarta-feira (27mai2015) a coletiva de imprensa sobre o escândalo de corrupção na Fifa, ao lado de JAMES COMEY, diretor do FBI.

Nine FIFA Officials and Five Corporate Executives Indicted for Racketeering Conspiracy and Corruption

JUSTICE NEWS

Department of Justice / Office of Public Affairs

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/nine-fifa-officials-and-five-corporate-executives-indicted-racketeering-conspiracy-and

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE; Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Nine FIFA Officials and Five Corporate Executives Indicted for Racketeering Conspiracy and Corruption

The Defendants Include Two Current FIFA Vice Presidents and the Current and Former Presidents of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF); Seven Defendants Arrested Overseas; Guilty Pleas for Four Individual Defendants and Two Corporate Defendants Also Unsealed

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

1. A 47-count indictment was unsealed early this morning in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging 14 defendants with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies, among other offenses, in connection with the defendants’ participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer.
2. The guilty pleas of four individual defendants and two corporate defendants were also unsealed today.
3. The defendants charged in the indictment include high-ranking officials of the FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION (FIFA), the organization responsible for the regulation and promotion of soccer worldwide, as well as leading officials of other soccer governing bodies that operate under the FIFA umbrella.
4. Jeffrey Webb and Jack Warner – the current and former presidents of CONCACAF, the continental confederation under FIFA headquartered in the United States – are among the soccer officials charged with racketeering and bribery offenses.
5. The defendants also include U.S. and South American sports marketing executives who are alleged to have systematically paid and agreed to pay well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks to obtain lucrative media and marketing rights to international soccer tournaments.
6. The charges were announced by Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly T. Currie of the Eastern District of New York, Director James B. Comey of the FBI, Assistant Director in Charge Diego W. Rodriguez of the FBI’s New York Field Office, Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and Special Agent in Charge Erick Martinez of the IRS-CI’s Los Angeles Field Office.

OFFICE	NAME	JURISDICTION
Attorney General	LORETTA E. LYNCH	USA
Acting U.S. Attorney	KELLY T. CURRIE	Eastern District of New York
Director	JAMES B. COMEY	FBI/USA
Assistant Director in Charge	DIEGO W. RODRIGUEZ	FBI’s New York Field Office
Chief	RICHARD WEBER	Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI)
Special Agent in Charge	ERICK MARTINEZ	IRS-CI’s Los Angeles Field Office.

7. Also earlier this morning [May,27,2015; wednesday], Swiss authorities in Zurich arrested seven of the defendants charged in the indictment, the defendants Jeffrey Webb, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Eugenio Figueredo, Rafael Esquivel and JOSÉ MARIA MARIN, at the request of the United States. Also this morning, a search warrant is being executed at CONCACAF headquarters in Miami, Florida.
8. The guilty pleas of the four individual and two corporate defendants that were also unsealed today include the guilty pleas of Charles Blazer, the long-serving former general secretary of CONCACAF and former U.S. representative on the FIFA executive committee; JOSÉ HAWILLA, the owner and founder of the TRAFFIC Group, a multinational sports marketing conglomerate headquartered in Brazil; and two of Hawilla’s companies, TRAFFIC Sports International Inc. and TRAFFIC Sports USA Inc., which is based in Florida.
9. “The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States,” said Attorney General Lynch.  “It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.  And it has profoundly harmed a multitude of victims, from the youth leagues and developing countries that should benefit from the revenue generated by the commercial rights these organizations hold, to the fans at home and throughout the world whose support for the game makes those rights valuable. Today’s action makes clear that this Department of Justice intends to end any such corrupt practices, to root out misconduct, and to bring wrongdoers to justice – and we look forward to continuing to work with other countries in this effort.” 
10. Attorney General Lynch extended her grateful appreciation to the authorities of the government of Switzerland, as well as several other international partners, for their outstanding assistance in this investigation.
11. “Today’s announcement should send a message that enough is enough,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Currie.  “After decades of what the indictment alleges to be brazen corruption, organized international soccer needs a new start – a new chance for its governing institutions to provide honest oversight and support of a sport that is beloved across the world, increasingly so here in the United States.  Let me be clear: this indictment is not the final chapter in our investigation.”
12. Acting U.S. Attorney Currie extended his thanks to the agents, analysts and other investigative personnel with the FBI New York Eurasian Joint Organized Crime Squad and the IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office, as well as their colleagues abroad, for their tremendous effort in this case.
13. “As charged in the indictment, the defendants fostered a culture of corruption and greed that created an uneven playing field for the biggest sport in the world,” said Director Comey.  “Undisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks, and bribes became a way of doing business at FIFA.  I want to commend the investigators and prosecutors around the world who have pursued this case so diligently, for so many years.”
14. “When leaders in an organization resort to cheating the very members that they are supposed to represent, they must be held accountable,” said Chief Weber.  “Corruption, tax evasion and money laundering are certainly not the cornerstones of any successful business.  Whether you call it soccer or football, the fans, players and sponsors around the world who love this game should not have to worry about officials corrupting their sport.  This case isn't about soccer, it is about fairness and following the law.  IRS-CI will continue to investigate financial crimes and follow the money wherever it may lead around the world, leveling the playing field for those who obey the law.”
15. The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The Enterprise

16. FIFA is composed of 209 member associations, each representing organized soccer in a particular nation or territory, including the United States and four of its overseas territories.  FIFA also recognizes six continental confederations that assist it in governing soccer in different regions of the world.
17. The U.S. Soccer Federation is one of 41 member associations of the confederation known as CONCACAF, which has been headquartered in the United States throughout the period charged in the indictment.  The South American confederation, called CONMEBOL, is also a focus of the indictment. 
18. As alleged in the indictment, FIFA and its six continental confederations, together with affiliated regional federations, national member associations and sports marketing companies, constitute an enterprise of legal entities associated in fact for purposes of the federal racketeering laws.  The principal – and entirely legitimate – purpose of the enterprise is to regulate and promote the sport of soccer worldwide.
19. As alleged in the indictment, one key way the enterprise derives revenue is to commercialize the media and marketing rights associated with soccer events and tournaments.
20. The organizing entity that owns those rights – as FIFA and CONCACAF do with respect to the World Cup and Gold Cup, their respective flagship tournaments – sells them to sports marketing companies, often through multi-year contracts covering multiple editions of the tournaments.
21. The sports marketing companies, in turn, sell the rights downstream to TV and radio broadcast networks, major corporate sponsors and other sub-licensees who want to broadcast the matches or promote their brands.
22. The revenue generated from these contracts is substantial: according to FIFA, 70% of its $5.7 billion in total revenues between 2011 and 2014 was attributable to the sale of TV and marketing rights to the 2014 World Cup.

The Racketeering Conspiracy

23. The indictment alleges that, between 1991 and the present, the defendants and their co-conspirators corrupted the enterprise by engaging in various criminal activities, including fraud, bribery and money laundering.
24. Two generations of soccer officials abused their positions of trust for personal gain, frequently through an alliance with unscrupulous sports marketing executives who shut out competitors and kept highly lucrative contracts for themselves through the systematic payment of bribes and kickbacks.
25. All told, the soccer officials are charged with conspiring to solicit and receive well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for their official support of the sports marketing executives who agreed to make the unlawful payments.
26. Most of the schemes alleged in the indictment relate to the solicitation and receipt of bribes and kickbacks by soccer officials from sports marketing executives in connection with the commercialization of the media and marketing rights associated with various soccer matches and tournaments, including:

Ø  FIFA World Cup qualifiers in the CONCACAF region,

Ø  the CONCACAF Gold Cup,

Ø  the CONCACAF Champions League,

Ø  the jointly organized CONMEBOL/CONCACAF Copa América Centenario,

Ø  the CONMEBOL Copa América,

Ø  the CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores and the

Ø COPA DO BRASIL, which is organized by the Brazilian national soccer federation (CBF).

27. Other alleged schemes relate to the payment and receipt of bribes and kickbacks in connection with the sponsorship of CBF by a major U.S. sportswear company, the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 FIFA presidential election.

The Indicted Defendants

28. As set forth in the indictment, the defendants and their co-conspirators fall generally into three categories: soccer officials acting in a fiduciary capacity within FIFA and one or more of its constituent organizations; sports media and marketing company executives; and businessmen, bankers and other trusted intermediaries who laundered illicit payments.
29. Nine of the defendants were FIFA officials by operation of the FIFA statutes, as well as officials of one or more other bodies:

• Jeffrey Webb: Current FIFA vice president and executive committee member, CONCACAF president, Caribbean Football Union (CFU) executive committee member and Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) president.
• Eduardo Li: Current FIFA executive committee member-elect, CONCACAF executive committee member and Costa Rican soccer federation (FEDEFUT) president.
• Julio Rocha: Current FIFA development officer.  Former Central American Football Union (UNCAF) president and Nicaraguan soccer federation (FENIFUT) president.
• Costas Takkas: Current attaché to the CONCACAF president.  Former CIFA general secretary.
• Jack Warner: Former FIFA vice president and executive committee member, CONCACAF president, CFU president and Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) special adviser.
• Eugenio Figueredo: Current FIFA vice president and executive committee member.  Former CONMEBOL president and Uruguayan soccer federation (AUF) president.
• Rafael Esquivel: Current CONMEBOL executive committee member and Venezuelan soccer federation (FVF) president.
• José Maria Marin: Current member of the FIFA organizing committee for the Olympic football tournaments.  Former CBF president.
• Nicolás Leoz: Former FIFA executive committee member and CONMEBOL president.

Four of the defendants were sports marketing executives:

• Alejandro Burzaco: Controlling principal of Torneos y Competencias S.A., a sports marketing business based in Argentina, and its affiliates.
• Aaron Davidson: President of Traffic Sports USA Inc. (Traffic USA).
• Hugo and Mariano Jinkis: Controlling principals of Full Play Group S.A., a sports marketing business based in Argentina, and its affiliates.

30. And one of the defendants was in the broadcasting business but allegedly served as an intermediary to facilitate illicit payments between sports marketing executives and soccer officials:

• José Margulies: Controlling principal of Valente Corp. and Somerton Ltd.

The Convicted Individuals and Corporations

31. The following individuals and corporations previously pleaded guilty under seal:

Ø  On July 15, 2013, the defendant DARYLL WARNER, son of defendant Jack Warner and a former FIFA development officer, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging him with wire fraud and the structuring of financial transactions. 

Ø  On Oct. 25, 2013, the defendant DARYAN WARNER waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a three-count information charging him with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and the structuring of financial transactions. Daryan Warner forfeited over $1.1 million around the time of his plea and has agreed to pay a second forfeiture money judgment at the time of sentencing.

Ø  On Nov. 25, 2013, the defendant CHARLES BLAZER, the former CONCACAF general secretary and a former FIFA executive committee member, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a 10-count information charging him with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, income tax evasion and failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). Blazer forfeited over $1.9 million at the time of his plea and has agreed to pay a second amount to be determined at the time of sentencing. 

Ø  On Dec. 12, 2014, the defendant JOSÉ HAWILLA, the owner and founder of the Traffic Group, the Brazilian sports marketing conglomerate, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a four-count information charging him with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Hawilla also agreed to forfeit over $151 million, $25 million of which was paid at the time of his plea.

Ø  On May 14, 2015, the defendants TRAFFIC SPORTS USA INC. and TRAFFIC SPORTS INTERNATIONAL INC. pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy.

32. All money forfeited by the defendants is being held in reserve to ensure its availability to satisfy any order of restitution entered at sentencing for the benefit of any individuals or entities that qualify as victims of the defendants’ crimes under federal law.
33. The indictment unsealed today has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Raymond J. Dearie of the Eastern District of New York.
34. The indicted and convicted individual defendants face maximum terms of incarceration of 20 years for the RICO conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering and obstruction of justice charges. In addition, Eugenio Figueredo faces a maximum term of incarceration of 10 years for a charge of naturalization fraud and could have his U.S. citizenship revoked. He also faces a maximum term of incarceration of five years for each tax charge.
35. Charles Blazer faces a maximum term of incarceration of 10 years for the FBAR charge and five years for the tax evasion charges; and Daryan and Daryll Warner face maximum terms of incarceration of 10 years for structuring financial transactions to evade currency reporting requirements. Each individual defendant also faces mandatory restitution, forfeiture and a fine. By the terms of their plea agreements, the corporate defendants face fines of $500,000 and one year of probation.

The government’s investigation is ongoing.

36. The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Evan M. Norris, Amanda Hector, Darren A. LaVerne, Samuel P. Nitze, Keith D. Edelman and Brian D. Morris of the Eastern District of New York, with assistance provided by the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and Organized Crime and Gang Section.

The Indicted Defendants:

NB.	NAME	AGE	NATIONALITY
01	ALEJANDRO BURZACO	50	Argentina
02	AARON DAVIDSON	44	USA
03	RAFAEL ESQUIVEL	68	Venezuela
04	EUGENIO FIGUEREDO	83	USA, Uruguay
05	HUGO JINKIS	70	Argentina
06	MARIANO JINKIS	40	Argentina
07	NICOLÁS LEOZ	86	Paraguay
08	EDUARDO LI	56	Costa Rica
09	JOSÉ MARGULIES, also known as José LAZARO	75	Brazil
10	JOSÉ MARIA MARIN	83	Brazil
11	JULIO ROCHA	64	Nicaragua
12	COSTAS TAKKAS	58	United Kingdom
13	JACK WARNER	72	Trinidad and Tobago
14	JEFFREY WEBB	50	Cayman Islands

The Convicted Defendants:

NB.	NAME	AGE	NATIONALITY
01	CHARLES BLAZER	70	USA
02	JOSÉ HAWILLA	71	Brazil
03	DARYAN WARNER	46	Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada
04	DARYLL WARNER	40	USA, Trinidad and Tobago
05	TRAFFIC SPORTS INTERNATIONAL INC.(*)		Registered: British Virgin Islands
06	TRAFFIC SPORTS USA INC.(*)		Registered: USA
	(*) J. Hawilla entreprises

E.D.N.Y. Docket Numbers:

United States v. Daryll Warner, 13 Cr. 402 (WFK)

United States v. Daryan Warner, 13 Cr. 584 (WFK)

United States v. Charles Blazer, 13 Cr. 602 (RJD)

United States v. José Hawilla, 14 Cr. 609 (RJD)

United States v. Traffic Sports International, Inc., 14 Cr. 609 (RJD)

United States v. Traffic Sports USA, Inc., 14 Cr. 609 (RJD)

United States v. Jeffrey Webb et al., 15 Cr. 252 (RJD)

15-677

Office of the Attorney General

Updated May, 27, 2015.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/nine-fifa-officials-and-five-corporate-executives-indicted-racketeering-conspiracy-and

[84.B.6] BRAZIL’S REACTIONS

Source: The Guardian, London, UK.

Wednesday 27 May 2015 17.14 BST

http://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2015/may/27/fifa-officials-arrested-on-corruption-charges-live

3h ago16:23

Jonathan Watts, the Guardian’s Latin America correspondent, has this on the reaction in Brazil to the arrest of former FA president José Maria Marin:

1)      Few people in Brazil are likely to mourn the arrest in Zurich today of José Maria Marin, the dictatorship-era politician and former head of the Brazilian Football Confederation.

2)      Swiss police detained the 83-year-old as part of their swoop on Fifa officials allegedly involved in money laundering and bribery.

3)      It is far from the first controversy surrounding the CBF president, who is from the same clique of Brazilian football kingpins as his predecessor Ricardo Teixeira and FIFA president João Havelange - both of whom were embroiled in corruption scandals.

4)      Marin’s appointment in 2012 was controversial as a result of his support for the country’s military dictatorship and his alleged association with the torture and killing of a journalist, Vladimir Herzog.

5)      Herzog’s son, Ivo has said Marin should take some responsibility for the death of his father because in 1975, when the future head of the CBF was still a state congressman, he publicly denounced Herzog and called for the authorities to take action. The journalist was arrested soon after on the orders of police chief Sérgio Fleury and died in prison tafter undergoing repeated electric shocks. A year later, an unrepentant Marin praised Fleury for fulfilling his duties “in the most praiseworthy manner.”

6)      In 2013, the former Brazil striker Romario joined Ivo in presenting a petition to the CBF and Sepp Blatter urging Marin’s appointment be referred to the Fifa ethics committee for conduct unbecoming a football official.

7)      Romario had previously called Marin a thief and said he should “spend 100 years in prison” for taking a medal from a Corinthians player at a junior cup match. Marin responded by filing a lawsuit, but Romario was aquitted by the Supreme Court in April this year.

8)      Marin is a former São Paulo state governor, a post he won with the support of one of the most corrupt politicians in Brazil, Paulo Maluf who has been found guilty of taking hundreds of millions of dollars of bribes.

[84.B.7] 

 

"Change is badly required" - John Delaney on FIFA arrests

Swiss authorities detained six officials in an early-morning operation in Zurich

"Change is badly, badly required. This is not a club that Sepp Blatter is in charge of, this is the biggest game in the world."

Source: Newstalk; 14:06 27 May 2015.

http://www.newstalk.com/Several-top-FIFA-officials-have-been-arrested-in-Switzerland-on-corruption-charges

JOHN DELANEY has told Newstalk Lunchtime that the FIFA arrests were "shocking" and that change is badly required within the body.

1.       Seven FIFA officials have been arrested in Switzerland over allegations they were involved in a racket involving bribes adding up to more than $150m (£96m).

2.       On SEPP BLATTER, he told Lunchtime:

 "Well that's the sad reality of it, it's one country one vote. "The opposition for Blatter comes very much from within Europe. "It says a lot about the culture of FIFA. It says a lot about some of the other confederations, that some of the countries tend to support Blatter irrespective of what controversy prevails around FIFA”.

3.       Mr. Delaney went on to say that he raised concerns within UEFA: "I have been raising this for a long time. We have all raised at various times how unhappy we are with the governance of FIFA and also how unhappy we are with the constant bribery and corruption issues that surround FIFA."

4.       He stated:

"Change is badly, badly required. This is not a club that Sepp Blatter is in charge of, this is the biggest game in the world."

(You can listen to his full interview here:)

5.       Former FIFA Vice-President JACK WARNER has released a statement concerning the arrest of officials this morning. His statement reads:

Ø  "My attention has been drawn to certain developments in world football which started several hours ago and is at the present time still ongoing.

Ø  It has been reported that a number of FIFA officials have been arrested in Switzerland and that at least one raid conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigators in Miami is being executed at what I presume to be CONCACAF offices. My name is being reported by international media as being one of those persons sought in connection with the probe.

Ø  The people of Trinidad and Tobago will know that I quit FIFA and international football more than four years ago and that over the past several years I have recommitted my life to the work of improving the lot of every citizen of every creed and race in this nation. This is where I have let my bucket down.

Ø  I have fought fearlessly against all forms of injustice and corruption. I have been afforded no due process and I have not even been questioned in this matter. I reiterate that I am innocent of any charges. I have walked away from the politics of world football to immerse myself in the improvement of lives in this country where I shall, God willing, die.

Ø  The actions of FIFA no longer concern me. I cannot help but note however that these cross- border coordinated actions come at a time when FIFA is assembled for elections to select a President who is universally disliked by the international community.

Ø  At times such as this it is my experience that the large world powers typically take actions to affect world football. World football is an enormous international business. That is no longer my concern.

Ø  My sole focus at this stage of my life is on the people of Trinidad and Tobago. I wish to advise the hundreds of thousands of persons who support the ILP that my commitment to them and to the people of Trinidad and Tobago is undaunted and can never be broken."

6.       Nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives were indicted for racketeering, conspiracy and corruption. The FIFA executives arrested are:

Ø  Jeffrey Webb,

Ø  Eduardo Li,

Ø  Julio Rocha,

Ø  Costas Takkas,

Ø  Eugenio Figueredo,

Ø  Rafael Esquivel and

Ø  José Maria Marin.

 

7.       The US Department of Justice stated [May, 27, 2015]:

Ø  The Defendants Include Two Current FIFA Vice Presidents and the Current and Former Presidents of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF); Seven Defendants Arrested Overseas; Guilty Pleas for Four Individual Defendants and Two Corporate Defendants Also Unsealed

Ø  A 47-count indictment was unsealed early this morning in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging 14 defendants with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies, among other offenses, in connection with the defendants' participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer. The guilty pleas of four individual defendants and two corporate defendants were also unsealed today.

Ø  The defendants charged in the indictment include high-ranking officials of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the organization responsible for the regulation and promotion of soccer worldwide, as well as leading officials of other soccer governing bodies that operate under the FIFA umbrella. Jeffrey Webb and Jack Warner - the current and former presidents of CONCACAF, the continental confederation under FIFA headquartered in the United States - are among the soccer officials charged with racketeering and bribery offenses.

Ø  The defendants also include U.S. and South American sports marketing executives who are alleged to have systematically paid and agreed to pay well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks to obtain lucrative media and marketing rights to international soccer tournaments.

Ø  The charges were announced by Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly T. Currie of the Eastern District of New York, Director James B. Comey of the FBI, Assistant Director in Charge Diego W. Rodriguez of the FBI's New York Field Office, Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and Special Agent in Charge Erick Martinez of the IRS-CI's Los Angeles Field Office.

Ø  Also earlier this morning, Swiss authorities in Zurich arrested seven of the defendants charged in the indictment, Jeffrey Webb, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Eugenio Figueredo, Rafael Esquivel and JOSÉ MARIA MARIN, at the request of the United States.

Ø  Also this morning, a search warrant is being executed at CONCACAF headquarters in Miami, Florida.

8.       The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland seized documents at FIFA. Here is the statement from their office:

Ø  The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has opened criminal proceedings against persons unknown on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and of money laundering in connection with the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 Football World Cups. In the course of said proceedings, electronic data and documents were seized today at FIFA's head office in Zurich.

Ø  Today, on Wednesday 27 May 2015, the OAG has seized data and documents stored in IT systems at the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) as part of a so-called "collection of evidence on cooperative basis". That means that the party in possession of the data - in this case, FIFA - delivers the requested data to law enforcement authorities, or gives assistance in securing the data, thus facilitating an efficient and swift procedure.

Ø  The collection of relevant bank documents had already been ordered beforehand at various financial institutes in Switzerland. The files seized today and the collected bank documents will serve criminal proceedings both in Switzerland and abroad.

Ø  In the Swiss criminal proceedings, opened by the OAG on 10 March 2015, it is suspected that irregularities occurred in the allocation of the FIFA World Cups of 2018 and 2022. The corresponding unjust enrichment is suspected to have taken place at least partly in Switzerland. Furthermore, the head office of the damaged party, FIFA, is in Switzerland.

Ø  For these reasons, investigations are being carried out on the suspicion of criminal mismanagement (Article 158 under 1, Section 3 Swiss Criminal Code / SCC). There are also suspicions of money laundering through Swiss bank accounts (Article 305bis, SCC). Subsequently to today's seizure of files, the OAG and the Swiss Federal Criminal Police will be questioning 10 persons who took part in voting on the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups as members of the Executive Committee in 2010. These persons should be questioned as persons providing information.

Ø  For reasons of criminal procedure (principle of proportionality), the procedure coordinated with the requested acts of the U.S. authorities was designed in such a way as to allow the procurement of any criminally relevant data in an effective manner, and to avoid any possible collusion.

Ø  These measures were carried out simultaneously as a large number of persons involved in allocating the World Cups were currently in Zurich. These legal actions concern two criminal procedures conducted separately by the OAG and the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. The Swiss and US law enforcement authorities are not conducting any joint investigations, but are coordinating their respective criminal proceedings.

Ø  On 18 November 2014, FIFA had filed criminal charges against persons unknown with the OAG. Therefore, the Swiss proceeding is aimed at persons unknown, with FIFA as the injured party.

Ø  With this procedure, the OAG is contributing to the struggle against corrupt behaviour and money laundering.

 

 

 

SIX OFFICIALS DETAINED IN ZURICH

9.       Several top FIFA officials have been arrested in Switzerland over allegations they were involved in paying bribes adding up to more than $100m (£64m). Swiss authorities detained six officials in an early-morning operation in Zurich on suspicion of receiving and paying bribes, the AP news agency reported.

10.   The arrests were carried out in order to extradite the officials to the United States, the Swiss government said. They have since raided FIFA's headquarters, seizing documents and say they have opened criminal proceedings in connection with the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar.

11.   US officials suspect the alleged bribes were agreed to and prepared in the US, and payments carried out via US banks, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ). The FOJ said the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York is investigating the individuals on suspicion of accepting bribes and kick-backs between the early 1990s and now.

12.   Switzerland's justice ministry said in a statement: "The bribery suspects - representatives of sports media and sports promotion firms - are alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to the soccer functionaries (FIFA delegates) and other functionaries of FIFA sub-organisations - totaling more than $100 million."

13.   The statement said the investigation was into allegations involving tournaments in Latin America and the US. One of those detained in Zurich was FIFA Vice-President and north and central American and Caribbean football association head Jeffrey Webb, according to Press Association Sport.

14.   Others held include Costa Rica soccer federation president Eduardo Li, who was elected to FIFA's executive committee in March. The arrests took place after more than a dozen plain-clothed Swiss police officers arrived unannounced at the Baur au Lac hotel.

15.   The officials were in Switzerland ahead of an election which was expected to see FIFA President Sepp Blatter reinstated for a fifth term.

FIFA TOLD AP THAT BLATTER WAS NOT AMONG THE MEN ARRESTED.

16.   Swiss prosecuted later announced that they had opened criminal proceedings "against persons unknown on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and of money laundering in connection with the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 football World Cups".

17.   They said they have seized "electronic data and documents" from FIFA's HQ in Zurich and 10 executive committee members will be questioned over those allegations.

18.   As FIFA said it was clarifying "the situation", Blatter's opponent in the presidential election Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan said: "Today is a sad day for football. Clearly this is a developing story, the details of which are still emerging. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time."

19.   Allegations of corruption have dogged FIFA for many years with several British newspapers, including the Sunday Times, making a range of accusations ahead of the World Cup Finals last year.

20.   The New York Times said a total of 14 people - a mixture of FIFA officials and non-FIFA sports marketing executives - were expected to be arrested in total.

21.   Zurich police said the detainees will be questioned and then will be asked whether they are prepared to be extradited. Any who refuse will force the US to submit a formal extradition request within 40 days.

 

22.   Statement from the Swiss Federal Office of Justice. Here's thefull statement from the Swiss Federal Office of Justice:

Ø  The six soccer functionaries were arrested today in Zurich by the Zurich Cantonal Police. The FOJ’s arrest warrants were issued further to a request by the US authorities. The US attorney’s office for the eastern district of New York is investigating these individuals on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kickbacks between the early 1990s and the present day.

Ø  The bribery suspects – representatives of sports media and sports promotion firms – are alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to the soccer functionaries – delegates of Fifa (Federation Internationale de Football Association) and other functionaries of Fifa sub-organisations – totalling more than US$ 100m.

Ø  In return, it is believed that they received media, marketing, and sponsorship rights in connection with soccer tournaments in Latin America.

Ø  According to the US request, these crimes were agreed and prepared in the US, and payments were carried out via US banks. The Zurich Cantonal Police will question the detainees today on behalf of the FOJ regarding the US request for their arrest.

Ø  A simplified procedure will apply for wanted persons who agree to their immediate extradition. The FOJ can immediately approve their extradition to the US and order its execution. However, if a wanted person opposes their extradition, the FOJ will invite the US to submit a formal extradition request within the deadline of 40 days specified in the bilateral extradition treaty.

[84.B.8] 

John Delaney confirms FAI will vote against Blatter

FIFA's elections are closing in with one challenger for the incumbent to face

Raf Diallo; 19:04 26 May 2015 ;

http://www.newstalk.com/John-Delaney-confirms-FAI-will-not-vote-for-Blatter

FAI chief executive John Delaney has told the BBC that the Association will not be voting for Sepp Blatter in this Friday's FIFA presidential election.

Delaney says that Blatter "has to recognise that FIFA has an incredibly bad brand image" - "regardless of the good he claims to have done" during his time in charge.

Friday's election has come down to a straight battle between Blatter and Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan and wants the incumbent to step aside.

"If he was doing the right thing by football, which he says he cares and loves, then he should step aside and let somebody else come forward and improve the image of the world game," Delaney told the BBC, citing "good friend" Michel Platini's presidency of UEFA as an example of an organistion with a "good image".

Earlier, the campaign team for the challenger claimed that they had rejected a potentially illegal offer to help oust Blatter, revealing that they were approached by an individual who had offered to share details of Blatter's finances and claiming to be able to help deliver dozens of votes.

The campaign team say that police have been informed but have not revealed which country is investigating the allegation.

Former Portuguese international Luis Figo withdrew his candidacy just last week after describing the governing body under Blatter as a "dictatorship".

[84.B.9] 

'We were astonished. We couldn't believe it'

Sunday Times investigative journalist Jonathan Calvert speaks to Off The Ball on Qatar's bid and FIFA investigation

Raf Diallo; 22:00 26 May 2015 

http://www.newstalk.com/calvert-on-qatari-bid-for-world-cup

Earlier today, John Delaney announced that the FAI will not vote for Sepp Blatter in the upcoming FIFA presidential elections which more than hints at the esteem with which football's world governing body is held.

The controversy over the Qatari bid for the 2022 tournament was one of the things which hammered FIFA's reputation with allegations of corruption made in recent years.

Tonight on Off The Ball, we were joined by Jonathan Calvert of The Sunday Times Insight team, who is the winner of Investigation of the Year and Paul Foot Award and is the co-author of The Ugly Game - The Qatari Plot to buy the World Cup with colleague Heidi Blake.

"We were picking up all sorts of information about the other bidders - and in particular Qatar. We went to a number of ex-FIFA executive committee members, who were offering their services as consultants. Two or three of them were saying to us that they'd heard that Qatar were offering money for certain FIFA executive committee members' votes. This is something that we would later submit to parliament under parliamentary privilege and it was published the following year after the vote. But what we gave FIFA, at the time around Autumn 2010, was all the tapes containing all of that information. And FIFA, rather than investigating the allegations that were in there, decided to just suspend all the people who'd said these things," said Calvert, who discussed a few of the allegations and stories.

Mohammed bin Hammam (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Calvert discussed the intricacy of his and Blake's investigation, before getting to the part of the tale concerning Qatari former Asian Football Confederation president Mohammed bin Hammam, who has since been punished with a life ban.

"We gave it 11 pages of The Sunday Times, which is unheard of in peace time, in the first week and the story went around the world and the next day we expected that FIFA would say 'we desperately want to see your evidence' but the next day (former FIFA independent investigator) Michael Garcia stood up and told the world that, in fact, he was ending the evidence collecting aspect of his investigation and he wouldn't be taking any more evidence and that he was going to sit down and write his report. We were astonished. We couldn't believe it."   

[84.B.10] The Guardian, London, UK.

FIFA in crisis amid corruption arrests and World Cup voting inquiry – as it happened

Senior Fifa officials face extradition from Switzerland to the US on federal corruption charges, while Swiss authorities launch criminal proceedings related to the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups

Source: The Guardian, London, UK.

Wednesday 27 May 2015 17.14 BST

http://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2015/may/27/fifa-officials-arrested-on-corruption-charges-live

Ø  Officials arrested on corruption charges as World Cup inquiry launched

Ø  The Fifa corruption arrests: key questions answered by Josh Halliday

Fifa officials arrested on corruption charges as World Cup inquiry launched

Senior Fifa officials arrested on corruption charges in morning raid as Swiss police open criminal investigation into 2018 and 2022 World Cup awards

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/may/27/several-top-fifa-officials-arrested

Fifa officials ‘corrupted’ football by accepting millions in bribes, says the US attorney general.

The world governing body of football, Fifa, is facing an unprecedented crisis on the eve of its congress in Zurich after Swiss authorities arrested a string of officials on corruption charges and opened criminal proceedings over the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

More than a dozen plainclothed officers descended on the five-star Baur au Lac hotel on Wednesday, where officials had gathered for Fifa’s annual meeting.

 

ANALYSIS: Fifa corruption crisis: the key figures in the controversy

World football’s governing body has been left reeling after nine officials were arrested. Here we take a closer look at who is involved

READ MORE

2.    The arrests were made on behalf of US authorities, after an FBI investigation that has been under way for at least three years. The US Department of Justice said authorities had charged 14 officials, nine of whom are current or former Fifaexecutives. Those arrested in Zurich face extradition to the US.

3.    “They were expected to uphold the rules that keep soccer honest. Instead they corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and enrich themselves,” said the US attorney general, Loretta Lynch, at a news conference in New York. “They did this over and over, year after year, tournament after tournament.” Events tainted by corruption included the award of the 2010 World Cup to South Africa and the 2011 Fifa presidential election, she said.

4.    Separately, Swiss federal prosecutors said they had opened criminal proceedings in connection with the award of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar. These decisions have been shrouded in claims of bribery and corruption ever since the vote in December 2010.

5.    The Swiss authorities seized “electronic data and documents” in a raid on Fifa headquarters. Bank documents had earlier been collected from various Swiss financial institutions.

6.    Police will question 10 members of the Fifa executive committee who took part in the World Cup votes. The 10, all still current members of Fifa’s ExCo, include senior vice-president Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Vitaly Mutko, Russia’s sports minister who is head of the country’s 2018 World Cup organising committee.

7.    The others are Angel Maria Villar Llona (Spain), Michel D’Hooghe (Belgium), Senes Erzik (Turkey), Worawi Makudi (Thailand), Marios Lefkaritis (Cyprus), Jacques Anouma (Ivory Coast), Rafael Salguero(Guatemala) and Hany Abo Rida (Egypt).

8.    In a statement, the Swiss attorney general’s office said the executives were being questioned on suspicion of “criminal mismanagement” and money laundering. It said the timing of the operation was deliberately co-ordinated with the arrests on behalf of the US authorities “to avoid any possible collusion” between suspects and because a large number of those involved in the voting for the two World Cups were present in Zurich, where Fifa president Sepp Blatter was expected to be re-elected for another four-year term on Friday.

9.    At a later press conference at Fifa headquarters, spokesman Walter de Gregorio denied Blatter was in any way involved with either investigation and said that the Swiss proceedings were as a result of information provided by Fifa to the attorney general’s office in November 2014. He also confirmed that there was no suggestion that Russia or Qatar would lose the World Cup.

10. The arrests on behalf of the US authorities form part of an international investigation into bribes worth $100m (£65m) spanning three decades. The allegations date back to the 1990s and involve “the acceptance of bribes and kickbacks”, Swiss officials said.

11. Fifa vice-president Jeffrey Webb, of the Cayman Islands, was among those arrested. He is the head of Fifa’s North American regional body, known as Concacaf, which reported itself to US tax authorities in 2012.

12. The organisation had not paid taxes for several years when its president was Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer was secretary general.

13. As well as Webb, the Department of Justice statement confirmed the Fifa officials charged were Eugenio Figueredo, Jack Warner, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, José Maria Marin and Nicolás Leoz. A further four defendants were the sports marketing executives Alejandro Burzaco, Aaron Davidson, Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis. A further marketing executive, José Marguiles, was charged as an intermediary.

14. The DoJ statement confirmed the charges were for racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies, “among other offences” and alleged a “24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer”. The charges were announced by the US attorney general Loretta Lynch.

15. The arrests came two days before Fifa president Blatter had expected to be re-elected for a fifth term. On Wednesday morning, Blatter – who was not among those arrested – was said to be actively lobbying to have Friday’s election postponed.

16. Blatter has been closely entwined with many of those charged in the US during his 40 years at Fifa, including the Paraguayan Leoz and the Trinidadian Warner. Webb and Figuero are current Fifa vice-presidents.

17. Last year it emerged that Blazer, who was forced to resign after being accused of financial irregularities, had been helping the FBI with its long-running inquiry. The DoJ statement said Blazer had already pleaded guilty to charges, as had José Hawilla, the owner and founder of the Traffic Group, a multinational sports marketing agency with its headquarters in Brazil.

18. Blazer wore a wiretap at the London 2012 Olympics and, although seriously ill, has been continuing to help the FBI with its investigation.

19. “The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States,” said Lynch. “It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.”

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 A police vehicle is parked outside of the five-star hotel Baur au Lac in Zurich, where the arrests were made. Photograph: Ennio Leanza/AP

20. The raids in Zurich are believed to have begun shortly before 6am, when six Fifa officials were led from the Bauer au Lac hotel to unmarked cars with sheets over their heads.

21. The Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) said: “The US attorney’s office for the eastern district of New York is investigating these individuals on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kickbacks between the early 1990s and the present day.

22. “The bribery suspects – representatives of sports media and sports promotion firms – are alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to the soccer functionaries – delegates of Fifa (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) and other functionaries of Fifa sub-organisations – totalling more than $100m.

23. “In return, it is believed that they received media, marketing, and sponsorship rights in connection with soccer tournaments in Latin America. According to the US request, these crimes were agreed and prepared in the US, and payments were carried out via US banks.”

24. Pressure is now bound to build on Blatter to postpone Friday’s election, where he is standing against Jordanian Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein.

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 L-R: (top row) Former President of the Brazilian Football Confederation JOSE MARIA MARIN, President of the Venezuelan Football Federation Rafael Esquivel, President of Costa Rica Football Federation Eduardo Li, former President of South American Football Confederation Nicolas Leoz, (bottom row) former President of the Nicaraguan Football Federation Julio Rocha, former Acting President of South American Football Confederation Eugenio Figueredo, former FIFA Executive member Jack Warner, and President of Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football Jeffery Webb. Photograph: Reuters

24   “Today is a sad day for football,” said Prince Ali on Wednesday morning. “Clearly this is a developing story, the details of which are still emerging. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

25   The mounting sense of crisis in Zurich has echoes of four years ago when Blatter was re-elected unopposed following the withdrawal of his Qatari rival Mohamed bin Hammam amid bribery claims that again centred on Concacaf members. Then he sailed on, asking: “Crisis? What is a crisis?”

26   The difference this time is that Swiss prosecutors have cooperated with US law enforcement to extradite Fifa officials gathered for the most high profile meeting in its calendar.

27   Zurich cantonal police arrived at the Baur au Lac hotel, where senior Fifa executives habitually gather on their all-expenses paid jaunts to Zurich for committee meetings, at about 6am on Wednesday. They stopped at reception to get the room numbers for the officials they intended to arrest. The men were not handcuffed as they were led away from the hotel. “Very peaceful,” tweeted New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt. “Hotel staff meanwhile is freaking out.”

28   Photographs showed officers hiding the suspects behind sheets as they escorted them to unmarked cars. One, Eduardo Li of Costa Rica, was allowed to bring his luggage as he left through a side door, the New York Times reported. Reporters were shooed away shortly after arrests began.

29   The last time international media attention was focused on the Baur au Lac was four years ago, when US and British World Cup bids were rejected in favour of Russia and Qatar. Suspicions of vote-buying and wrongdoing in those bidding contests have dogged Fifa ever since.

30   Swiss officials said the suspects’ deportation could be sanctioned immediately. The statement added: “The Zurich cantonal police will question the detainees today on behalf of the FOJ regarding the US request for their arrest.

31   “A simplified procedure will apply for wanted persons who agree to their immediate extradition. The FOJ can immediately approve their extradition to the US and order its execution.

32. “However, if a wanted person opposes their extradition, the FOJ will invite the US to submit a formal extradition request within the deadline of 40 days specified in the bilateral extradition treaty.”

33. Last November, Fifa’s ethics committee closed its investi

gation into the controversial bidding process that saw Qatar named as host of the 2022 World Cup, ruling that any breaches of the rules were only of “very limited scope”.

34. The decision to award Qatar the tournament was hugely controversial, prompting an avalanche of allegations about the way it won the bid and concerns about the searing heat in which matches would be held as well as the treatment of migrant workers building the infrastructure underpinning it.

35. But Fifa said an investigation did not find any direct link between the World Cup bid and illicit payments made by the disgraced former Asian Football Confederation president Bin Hammam, a Qatari who was banned for life for paying bribes during a campaign to unseat Blatter as president.

 [84.B.11] 

Fifa report into alleged corruption clears Qatar to host 2022 World Cup [14nov2014]

• Qatar and Russia will not face any Fifa sanctions

• Farce as investigator Michael arcia attacks summary

• England bid castigated for ‘violating bidding rules’

• Fifa World Cup ethics committee report – live reaction

FOTO FIFA-05_ The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, left, and Russia's deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov, celebrate after winning their bids at Fifa's 2010 World Cup vote. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

The Guardian; Owen Gibson;

@owen_g

Thursday 13 November 2014 10.52 GMT;

Last modified on Thursday 13 November 2014; 14.13h; GMT

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/nov/13/fifa-report-alleged-corruption-qatar-2022-world-cup

1.     Qatar has been cleared to host the 2022 World Cup after FIFA’s ethics committee ruled any breaches of the rules were only of “very limited scope” and closed its investigation into the controversial bidding process.

2.       As revealed by the Guardian, the governing body’s ethics committee has decided after an 18-month investigation by the former New York district attorney Michael Garcia there is not sufficient evidence to justify stripping either Russia or Qatar of the 2018 or 2022 tournaments.

3.       The report did note computers used by the Russian bid had been destroyed and emails were unavailable to investigators. Alexei Sorokin, who runs Russia’s 2018 organising committee, denied a deliberate cover-up. He said: “Everything we could supply to the investigation, we did.”

4.       The decision to award Qatar the 2018 tournament in December 2010 was hugely controversial, prompting an avalanche of allegations about the way it won the bid and concerns about the searing heat in which it would be played and the treatment of migrant workers building the infrastructure underpinning it.

5.       In a 42-page summary of Garcia’s 430-page report, Hans-Joachim Eckert, the head of the adjudicatory arm of Fifa’s ethics committee, said while there were concerns over aspects of Qatar’s bid they were not serious enough to warrant reopening the process.

6.       “In particular, the effects of these occurrences on the bidding process as a whole were far from reaching any threshold that would require returning to the bidding process, let alone reopening it,” Eckert said.

7.       Significantly, Eckert concludes Garcia did not find any direct link between the World Cup bid and illicit payments made by the disgraced former Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed bin Hammam, a Qatari who was banned for life for paying bribes during a campaign to unseat Sepp Blatter as Fifa president.

8.       Garcia’s report established Hammam made “several improper payments” to high ranking African football officials and paid $1.2m to the former Fifaexecutive committee member Jack Warner to stop him testifying against him. It said none of these payments were related to the bid for the World Cup.

9.       It also found Hammam offered to pay the legal fees of the banned Reynald Temarii, the Oceania confederation president who had promised his vote to Qatar’s rivals, in an effort to persuade him to appeal and so stop his replacement from taking his place and voting for Australia.

10.   Again, Eckert found that while it was clear Hammam supported Qatar’s bid, “there is no direct link between the payments of Mr Bin Hammam to Mr Temarii.”

11.   He adds that had Temarii taken part in the vote, it would have made no difference to the outcome. Qatar received 14 votes in the final round of voting; Australia was eliminated in the first round with just one despite spending $40m of public money on its bid.

12.   While certain Qatari officials could yet be punished by the ethics committee, Eckert concluded: “The potentially problematic facts and circumstances identified by the report concerning the Qatar 2022 bid were, all in all, not suited to compromise the integrity of the 2018/22 bidding process as whole.”

13.   Qatar spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a campaign of unprecedented scope and scale that included hiring such as Pep Guardiola and Zinedine Zidane as ambassadors and arranging friendlies in Doha.

14.   Eckert says Garcia had concerns over payments intended for the Argentina FA related to a friendly with Brazil a month before the vote but concludes the arrangements were not connected to the bid.

15.   And while he confirms Qatar’s payment of $1.8m for the rights to sponsor the Confederation of African Football Congress in Angola, thus gaining exclusive access to four of the 24 executive committee members, created a “negative impression”, he said they did not break any bidding rules.

16.   “As regards the procedural framework for conducting bidding procedures related to awarding the hosts of the final competitions of World Cups, the investigatory chamber of the Fifa ethics committee did not find any violations or breaches of the relevant rules and regulations,” he concluded.

17.   Of the 11 men who voted on 2018 and 2022 World Cups who are no longer on Fifa’s executive committee, only five provided answers to Garcia’s inquiry. Two could not be located at all.

18.   Fifa welcomed the decision to close the investigation into the chaotic and confusing bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, which virtually invited collusion by requiring the nine bidders to travel the world trying to secure the patronage of 24 Fifa executive committee members.

19.   Incredibly, Eckert described the bidding process – which Blatter has acknowledged should not have decided two World Cups at once – was “well thought out, robust and professional”.

20.   “Fifa welcomes the fact that a degree of closure has been reached with the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber stating today that ‘the evaluation of the 2018/2022 World Cup bidding process is closed for the Fifa ethics committee’,” said Fifa in a statement. “As such, Fifa looks forward to continuing the preparations for Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022 which are already well underway.”

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Russia’s president Vladimir Putin speaks at a Russia 2018 press conference this week. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA

21.   Garcia makes a series of recommendations for how the process should be reformed. Fifa has already promised to base future decisions on a vote by all 209 members at its congress rather than its executive committee.

22.   Garcia also recommended a maximum limit of two four-year terms for Fifa executive committee members “without exception or possibility for renewal” in an effort to end the system of patronage that has hobbled attempts to reform the organisation.

23.   He said the investigation had “noted unfortunate patterns in the history of the 24 member 2010 Fifa executive committee” and also recommended members should not be allowed to take part in votes in which they share a nationality with one of the bidding nations.

24.   The Qatar 2022 supreme committee, which recently acknowledged the best time to play the tournament would be in winter amid a debate about the football calendar, said it would study the report in detail before responding.

25.   The publication of the report is likely to be greeted with relief in Qatar. At the height of the Guardian’s revelations about the treatment of migrant construction workers in the tiny Gulf state and a Sunday Times investigation that sought to link Hammam payments to the Qatar 2022 bid, there was concern in Doha they could lose the World Cup.

26.   “As we have noted in the past, we cooperated fully with the ethics committee’s investigation and continue to believe that a fair and appropriate review will demonstrate the integrity and quality of our bid,” it said.

 [84.B.12]

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[84.B.13]

2015 FIFA corruption case

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_FIFA_corruption_case

Acesso em 28mai2015

Fourteen people, including nine associated with the governing body of world football, FIFA, were indicted^[1] in May 2015 in connection with an investigation by the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering that has lasted several years. 

Seven FIFA officials were arrested at the Hotel Baur au Lac in Zürich on May 27; they were preparing to attend the 65th FIFA Congress, which is scheduled to include the election of the President of FIFA.^[2] 

They are expected to be extradited to the United States on suspicion of receiving US$150M in bribes.^[2] 

There was also a simultaneous raid on the CONCACAF headquarters in Miami.^[3]

Allegations

In 2013, former President of FIFA João Havelange and President of the Brazilian Football Confederation Ricardo Teixeira were both found to have taken bribes worth millions of dollars. FIFA executive committee member Manilal Fernando (de) was sanctioned with a lifetime ban for bribery and corruption.^[4][5]

The arrests centre on the alleged use of bribery, fraud and money laundering to corrupt the issuing of media and marketing rights for FIFA games in the Americas, estimated at $150 million,^[6] including at least $110 million in bribes related to the Copa América Centenario to be hosted in 2016 in the United States.^[7] In addition, the indictment also alleges that bribery was used in an attempt to influence clothing sponsorship contracts, the selection process for the 2010 FIFA World Cup host, and the 2011 FIFA presidential election.^[6] Specifically, an unnamed sports equipment company – identified in multiple sources as Nike, Inc.^[8][9][10]– paid at least $40 million in bribes to become the sole provider of kit, footwear, accessories and equipment to the Brazil national football team.^[8]

In 2011 the American football executive and CONCACAF official Chuck Blazer pleaded guilty to 10 criminal charges including wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering, and offences involving income tax and banking. Blazer's guilty plea had aimed to stave off a more serious charge of racketeering which carried a potential 20-year prison sentence. Blazer would later make secret recordings of meetings with FIFA officials, and allegedly carried a recording device concealed in a keyring during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He had originally been approached by agents from the United States Internal Revenue Service and the FBI who had assembled specific allegations of his involvement in bribery during the bidding process for host countries for the FIFA World Cups from the early 1990s onwards. The indictment against Blazer was revealed on 27 May 2015, the same day that the arrests were made in Zurich.^[11][12]

Individual arrests[edit]

Nine FIFA officials and five businesspeople have been arrested or indicted.^[13]

FIFA officials arrested in Zürich[edit]

Country	Name	Position
Cayman Islands	Jeffrey Webb[6]	President of CONCACAF and the Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) and FIFA Vice President
Uruguay	Eugenio Figueredo[6]	Former Head of the Uruguayan Football Association and former President of CONMEBOL
Costa Rica	Eduardo Li[6]	Costa Rican football federation (FEDEFUT) President, FIFA executive committee member-elect and CONCACAF executive committee member
Nicaragua	Julio Rocha [6]	Nicaraguan Football Federation (FENIFUT) President, FIFA development officer and former Central American Football Union (UNCAF) President
United Kingdom	Costas Takkas[6][14]	Former Cayman Islands Football Association General Secretary and Attaché to the CONCACAF President
Venezuela	Rafael Esquivel[6]	Venezuelan Soccer Federation (FVF) President and CONMEBOL executive committee member
Brazil	José Maria Marin[6]	Former President of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) and former Governor of São Paulo

 

Other indicted FIFA officials[edit]

Country	Name	Position
Paraguay	Nicolás Leoz[6]	President of CONMEBOL between 1986 and 2013
Trinidad and Tobago	Jack Warner[6]	Former Vice President of FIFA, former President of CONCACAF and former Minister of National Security

 

Indicted businessmen with no official FIFA positions[edit]

Country	Name	Position
Argentina	Alejandro Burzaco[6]	CEO of Torneos y Competencias, an Argentinian sports communication company
United States	Aaron Davidson [6]	Chairman of the Board of Governors of the North American Soccer League and President of Traffic Sports USA
Argentina	Hugo Jinkis[6]	President of Argentinian sports TV firm Full Play Group
Argentina	Mariano Jinkis[6]	Vice-President of Argentinian sports TV firm Full Play Group S.A.
Brazil	José Marguiles[6]	Secretary-General of Traffic Sports Brazil

 

FIFA officials and non-FIFA businessmen who entered guilty pleas[edit]

Country	Name	Position
United States	Chuck Blazer [6]	Former CONCACAF General Secretary
Brazil	José Hawilla[6]	Owner and founder of Traffic Group
Trinidad and Tobago	Daryll Warner [6]	Son of Jack Warner, former FIFA development officer
Trinidad and Tobago	Daryan Warner[6]	Son of Jack Warner

 

 

José Hawilla

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Hawilla

José Hawilla
Born	1943/1944 (age 71–72)
Nationality	Brazilian

José Hawilla (born 1943/1944) is a Brazilian businessman, the owner and founder of Traffic Group, a multinational sports marketing conglomerate. Hawilla began his career as a sports journalist.^[1]

In 1980, Hawilla founded the Traffic Group, Brazil’s largest sports marketing company.^[2]

Hawilla pleaded guilty on 12 December 2014 to "corruption charges including racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering", in connnection with what has become the2015 FIFA corruption case. Hawilla has agreed to forfeit $151 million, of which $25 million was paid in December 2014.^[3]

 

Indicted corporations

Country	Name	Description
United States	Traffic Sports USA [6]	Soccer events management, subsidiary of Traffic Group
British Virgin Islands	Traffic Sports International [6]	Soccer events management, subsidiary of Traffic Group

 

Swiss criminal inquiry into 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups

See also: Garcia Report

In a separate action from the FBI inquiry, the prosecuting authorities in Switzerland launched a criminal inquiry into the bidding processes behind the awarding of the 2018 FIFA World Cup to Russia and the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar. The Swiss authorities seized "electronic data and documents" in a raid on FIFA's Zürich headquarters on the same day as the wider arrests.^[15]

 

Reactions

Governmental

·          Brazil – Senator, and former Brazilian footballer, Romário de Souza Faria stated that "unfortunately, it wasn't our police that arrested them, but someone had to eventually arrest them one day." Senator Romário has been an outspoken critic of the alleged corruption of FIFA.^[16]

·          Colombia – The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia, through diplomatic cables, requested access to the investigation files in order to determine if any Colombian nationals are linked to the irregularities of FIFA, and also offered to aid the investigations if requested by United States prosecutors.^[17] In recent times, Colombia was selected by the FIFA to host the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup and theFIFA Futsal World Cup which is to take place in 2016.

·          Costa Rica – The Attorney General of Costa Rica opened a money laundering probe on Eduardo Li, stating that "even though most of the events took place outside of Costa Rica, it is our responsibility to follow up on that and find out if any crimes were committed here".^[18]

·          Germany – Justice Minister, Heiko Maas, requested a full investigation on FIFA and stated that "It is clear that FIFA is not above the law either and that the accusations must be investigated. I think every football fan has a right to know that corruption in football and in international football has no room."^[19]

·          Paraguay – The Foreign Ministry of Paraguay announced that they received an extradition request from the United States for Nicolas Leoz, and that they will forward the request to the Supreme Court of Justice for a further review.^[20]

·          Russia – The foreign ministry of Russia condemned the arrest, stating: "Without going into details about the charges that have been brought up, we point to the fact that this is another case of the illegal extraterritorial application of U.S. laws...Once again, we urge Washington to stop trying to set itself up as a judge far outside its borders and to follow the generally accepted international legal procedures".^[21]

·          UK – The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom, John Whittingdale, stated that he fully supported the The Football Association's position "that significant and wide-ranging reforms are urgently needed at the very top of Fifa, including a change in its leadership". Prime Minister David Cameron also backed calls for Blatter to quit as President of FIFA.^[22]

 

Continental and national federations[edit]

The Union of European Football Associations stated "[t]hese events show, once again, that corruption is deeply rooted in FIFA's culture. There is a need for the whole of FIFA to be 'rebooted' and for a real reform to be carried out."^[23] UEFA president Michel Platini explicitly demanded Blatter to step down before his re-election.^[24]

The Asian Football Confederation stated that it is "against any form of corruption in football and fully supports any actions taken by the independent FIFA Ethics Committee where wrongdoing may have occurred, whether such actions affect Asian officials or otherwise." Moreover, it opposed postponing the FIFA congress and reiterated its support for Joseph S. Blatter.^[25]

CONMEBOL issued a resolution to "repudiate all acts of corruption, and unreservedly support the investigations initiated toward FIFA, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, and other organizations regarding alleged wrongdoing," and "will agree to collaborate openly and emphatically with such investigations."^[26]

Manuel Nascimento Lopes, the president of the Guinea-Bissau Football Association said that "I'm a Christian and this is blasphemy" in response to people blaming Blatter for the actions of other people. Lopes also said that "It's a state conspiracy. People are always trying to knock Blatter. Africa will vote for Mr Blatter and I will follow that. I agree at some point there has to be change but let Blatter finish his mandate and see what he does."^[27]

 

Leagues[edit]

The North American Soccer League Board of Governors suspended Chairperson Aaron Davidson and business relations with Traffic Sports. Carolina RailHawks, a team owned by Traffic Sports, was allowed to "continue to operate in the ordinary course of business".^[28]

 

See also[edit]

·         Andrew Jennings

·         International Sport and Leisure

·         65th FIFA Congress

·         FIFA's Dirty Secrets

[84.B.14]

Nine FIFA Officials and Five Corporate Executives Indicted for Racketeering Conspiracy and Corruption

International Financial Law Prof Blog A Member of the Law Professor Blogs Network http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/intfinlaw/ Sponsored by Wolters Kluwer

1.       The Defendants Include Two Current FIFA Vice Presidents and the Current and Former Presidents of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF); Seven Defendants Arrested Overseas; Guilty Pleas for Four Individual Defendants and Two Corporate Defendants Also Unsealed

2.       A 47-count indictment was unsealed early this morning in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging 14 defendants with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies, among other offenses, in connection with the defendants’ participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer. The guilty pleas of four individual defendants and two corporate defendants were also unsealed today.

3.       The defendants charged in the indictment include high-ranking officials of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the organization responsible for the regulation and promotion of soccer worldwide, as well as leading officials of other soccer governing bodies that operate under the FIFA umbrella. Jeffrey Webb and Jack Warner – the current and former presidents of CONCACAF, the continental confederation under FIFA headquartered in the United States – are among the soccer officials charged with racketeering and bribery offenses. The defendants also include U.S. and South American sports marketing executives who are alleged to have systematically paid and agreed to pay well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks to obtain lucrative media and marketing rights to international soccer tournaments.

4.       The charges were announced by Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly T. Currie of the Eastern District of New York, Director James B. Comey of the FBI, Assistant Director in Charge Diego W. Rodriguez of the FBI’s New York Field Office, Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and Special Agent in Charge Erick Martinez of the IRS-CI’s Los Angeles Field Office.

5.       Also earlier this morning, Swiss authorities in Zurich arrested seven of the defendants charged in the indictment, Jeffrey Webb, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Eugenio Figueredo, Rafael Esquivel and José Maria Marin, at the request of the United States. Also this morning, a search warrant is being executed at CONCACAF headquarters in Miami, Florida.

6.       The guilty pleas of the four individual and two corporate defendants that were also unsealed today include the guilty pleas of Charles Blazer, the long-serving former general secretary of CONCACAF and former U.S. representative on the FIFA executive committee; José Hawilla, the owner and founder of the Traffic Group, a multinational sports marketing conglomerate headquartered in Brazil; and two of Hawilla’s companies, Traffic Sports International Inc. and Traffic Sports USA Inc., which is based in Florida.

7.       “The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States,” said Attorney General Lynch. “It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks. And it has profoundly harmed a multitude of victims, from the youth leagues and developing countries that should benefit from the revenue generated by the commercial rights these organizations hold, to the fans at home and throughout the world whose support for the game makes those rights valuable. Today’s action makes clear that this Department of Justice intends to end any such corrupt practices, to root out misconduct, and to bring wrongdoers to justice – and we look forward to continuing to work with other countries in this effort.”

8.       Attorney General Lynch extended her grateful appreciation to the authorities of the government of Switzerland, as well as several other international partners, for their outstanding assistance in this investigation.

9.       “Today’s announcement should send a message that enough is enough,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Currie. “After decades of what the indictment alleges to be brazen corruption, organized international soccer needs a new start – a new chance for its governing institutions to provide honest oversight and support of a sport that is beloved across the world, increasingly so here in the United States. Let me be clear: this indictment is not the final chapter in our investigation.”

10.   Acting U.S. Attorney Currie extended his thanks to the agents, analysts and other investigative personnel with the FBI New York Eurasian Joint Organized Crime Squad and the IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office, as well as their colleagues abroad, for their tremendous effort in this case.

11.   “As charged in the indictment, the defendants fostered a culture of corruption and greed that created an uneven playing field for the biggest sport in the world,” said Director Comey. “Undisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks, and bribes became a way of doing business at FIFA. I want to commend the investigators and prosecutors around the world who have pursued this case so diligently, for so many years.”

12.   “When leaders in an organization resort to cheating the very members that they are supposed to represent, they must be held accountable,” said Chief Weber. “Corruption, tax evasion and money laundering are certainly not the cornerstones of any successful business. Whether you call it soccer or football, the fans, players and sponsors around the world who love this game should not have to worry about officials corrupting their sport. This case isn't about soccer, it is about fairness and following the law. IRS-CI will continue to investigate financial crimes and follow the money wherever it may lead around the world, leveling the playing field for those who obey the law.”

13.   The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

14.   The Enterprise

15.   FIFA is composed of 209 member associations, each representing organized soccer in a particular nation or territory, including the United States and four of its overseas territories. FIFA also recognizes six continental confederations that assist it in governing soccer in different regions of the world. The U.S. Soccer Federation is one of 41 member associations of the confederation known as CONCACAF, which has been headquartered in the United States throughout the period charged in the indictment. The South American confederation, called CONMEBOL, is also a focus of the indictment.

16.   As alleged in the indictment, FIFA and its six continental confederations, together with affiliated regional federations, national member associations and sports marketing companies, constitute an enterprise of legal entities associated in fact for purposes of the federal racketeering laws. The principal – and entirely legitimate – purpose of the enterprise is to regulate and promote the sport of soccer worldwide.

17.   As alleged in the indictment, one key way the enterprise derives revenue is to commercialize the media and marketing rights associated with soccer events and tournaments. The organizing entity that owns those rights – as FIFA and CONCACAF do with respect to the World Cup and Gold Cup, their respective flagship tournaments – sells them to sports marketing companies, often through multi-year contracts covering multiple editions of the tournaments. The sports marketing companies, in turn, sell the rights downstream to TV and radio broadcast networks, major corporate sponsors and other sub-licensees who want to broadcast the matches or promote their brands. The revenue generated from these contracts is substantial: according to FIFA, 70% of its $5.7 billion in total revenues between 2011 and 2014 was attributable to the sale of TV and marketing rights to the 2014 World Cup.

18.   The Racketeering Conspiracy

19.   The indictment alleges that, between 1991 and the present, the defendants and their co-conspirators corrupted the enterprise by engaging in various criminal activities, including fraud, bribery and money laundering. Two generations of soccer officials abused their positions of trust for personal gain, frequently through an alliance with unscrupulous sports marketing executives who shut out competitors and kept highly lucrative contracts for themselves through the systematic payment of bribes and kickbacks. All told, the soccer officials are charged with conspiring to solicit and receive well over $150 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for their official support of the sports marketing executives who agreed to make the unlawful payments.

20.   Most of the schemes alleged in the indictment relate to the solicitation and receipt of bribes and kickbacks by soccer officials from sports marketing executives in connection with the commercialization of the media and marketing rights associated with various soccer matches and tournaments, including FIFA World Cup qualifiers in the CONCACAF region, the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the CONCACAF Champions League, the jointly organized CONMEBOL/CONCACAF Copa América Centenario, the CONMEBOL Copa América, the CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores and the Copa do Brasil, which is organized by the Brazilian national soccer federation (CBF). Other alleged schemes relate to the payment and receipt of bribes and kickbacks in connection with the sponsorship of CBF by a major U.S. sportswear company, the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 FIFA presidential election.

21.   The Indicted Defendants

22.   As set forth in the indictment, the defendants and their co-conspirators fall generally into three categories: soccer officials acting in a fiduciary capacity within FIFA and one or more of its constituent organizations; sports media and marketing company executives; and businessmen, bankers and other trusted intermediaries who laundered illicit payments.

23.   Nine of the defendants were FIFA officials by operation of the FIFA statutes, as well as officials of one or more other bodies:

24.   Jeffrey Webb: Current FIFA vice president and executive committee member, CONCACAF president, Caribbean Football Union (CFU) executive committee member and Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) president.

25.   Eduardo Li: Current FIFA executive committee member-elect, CONCACAF executive committee member and Costa Rican soccer federation (FEDEFUT) president.

26.   Julio Rocha: Current FIFA development officer. Former Central American Football Union (UNCAF) president and Nicaraguan soccer federation (FENIFUT) president.

27.   Costas Takkas: Current attaché to the CONCACAF president. Former CIFA general secretary.

28.   Jack Warner: Former FIFA vice president and executive committee member, CONCACAF president, CFU president and Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) special adviser.

29.   Eugenio Figueredo: Current FIFA vice president and executive committee member. Former CONMEBOL president and Uruguayan soccer federation (AUF) president.

30.   Rafael Esquivel: Current CONMEBOL executive committee member and Venezuelan soccer federation (FVF) president.

31.   José Maria Marin: Current member of the FIFA organizing committee for the Olympic football tournaments. Former CBF president.

32.   Nicolás Leoz: Former FIFA executive committee member and CONMEBOL president.

33.   Four of the defendants were sports marketing executives:

34.   Alejandro Burzaco: Controlling principal of Torneos y Competencias S.A., a sports marketing business based in Argentina, and its affiliates.

35.   Aaron Davidson: President of Traffic Sports USA Inc. (Traffic USA).

36.   Hugo and Mariano Jinkis: Controlling principals of Full Play Group S.A., a sports marketing business based in Argentina, and its affiliates.

37.   And one of the defendants was in the broadcasting business but allegedly served as an intermediary to facilitate illicit payments between sports marketing executives and soccer officials:

38.   José Margulies: Controlling principal of Valente Corp. and Somerton Ltd.

39.   The Convicted Individuals and Corporations

40.   The following individuals and corporations previously pleaded guilty under seal:

41.   On July 15, 2013, the defendant Daryll Warner, son of defendant Jack Warner and a former FIFA development officer, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging him with wire fraud and the structuring of financial transactions.

42.   On Oct. 25, 2013, the defendant Daryan Warner waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a three-count information charging him with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and the structuring of financial transactions. Daryan Warner forfeited over $1.1 million around the time of his plea and has agreed to pay a second forfeiture money judgment at the time of sentencing.

43.   On Nov. 25, 2013, the defendant Charles Blazer, the former CONCACAF general secretary and a former FIFA executive committee member, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a 10-count information charging him with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, income tax evasion and failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). Blazer forfeited over $1.9 million at the time of his plea and has agreed to pay a second amount to be determined at the time of sentencing.

44.   On Dec. 12, 2014, the defendant José Hawilla, the owner and founder of the Traffic Group, the Brazilian sports marketing conglomerate, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a four-count information charging him with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Hawilla also agreed to forfeit over $151 million, $25 million of which was paid at the time of his plea.

45.   On May 14, 2015, the defendants Traffic Sports USA Inc. and Traffic Sports International Inc. pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy.

46.   All money forfeited by the defendants is being held in reserve to ensure its availability to satisfy any order of restitution entered at sentencing for the benefit of any individuals or entities that qualify as victims of the defendants’ crimes under federal law.

47.   * * *

48.   The indictment unsealed today has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Raymond J. Dearie of the Eastern District of New York.

49.   The indicted and convicted individual defendants face maximum terms of incarceration of 20 years for the RICO conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering and obstruction of justice charges. In addition, Eugenio Figueredo faces a maximum term of incarceration of 10 years for a charge of naturalization fraud and could have his U.S. citizenship revoked. He also faces a maximum term of incarceration of five years for each tax charge. Charles Blazer faces a maximum term of incarceration of 10 years for the FBAR charge and five years for the tax evasion charges; and Daryan and Daryll Warner face maximum terms of incarceration of 10 years for structuring financial transactions to evade currency reporting requirements. Each individual defendant also faces mandatory restitution, forfeiture and a fine. By the terms of their plea agreements, the corporate defendants face fines of $500,000 and one year of probation.

#FIFA #FIFAbribe

See http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/nine-fifa-officials-and-five-corporate-executives-indicted-racketeering-conspiracy-and

May 27, 2015 in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0)

[84.B.15]

The Washington Post  / Sports

Charges in the FIFA corruption case

Nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives face U.S. charges including racketeering, bribery, money laundering and fraud. Four others plus two sports marketing companies have already pleaded guilty. Read related story.

By The Washington Post; May 27, 2015

http://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/sports/fifa-corruption/

Source: U.S. Department of Justice. Photos via EPA. Graphic: Bonnie Berkowitz and Denise Lu.

PHOTO	NAME	TITLE	CHARGES
	FIFA official Jeffrey Webb, 50 Cayman Islands	FIFA vice president and executive committee member, CONCACAF president, Caribbean Football Union executive committee member, Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) president	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering
	FIFA official Eduardo Li, 56 Costa Rica	FIFA executive committee member-elect, CONCACAF executive committee member, Costa Rican soccer federation president	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering
	FIFA official Julio Rocha, 64 Nicaragua	FIFA development officer, former president of Central American Football Union and Nicaraguan soccer federation	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering
	FIFA official Costas Takkas, 58 United Kingdom	Attache to CONCACAF president, former CIFA general secretary	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering
	FIFA official Jack Warner, 72 Trinidad and Tobago	Former FIFA vice president and executive committee member, former CONCACAF president, CFU president and Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation special adviser	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering
	FIFA official Eugenio Figueredo, 83 United States, Uruguay	FIFA vice president and executive committee member, former South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) president and Uruguayan soccer federation president	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, Money laundering conspiracy, unlawful procurement of naturalization, aiding and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns
	FIFA official Rafael Esquivel, 68 Venezuela	CONMEBOL executive committee member, former Venezuelan soccer federation president	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy
	FIFA official José Maria Marin, 83 Brazil	Member of FIFA organizing committee for the Olympic soccer tournaments, former CBF president	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy
	FIFA official Nicolás Leoz, 86 Paraguay	Former FIFA executive committee member and CONMEBOL president	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering
	Sports marketing executive Alejandro Burzaco, 50 Argentina Sports marketing executive	Controlling principal of Argentina-based Torneos y Competencias	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy
	Aaron Davidson, 44 United States	President of TRAFFIC Sports USA	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering, obstruction of justice
	Sports marketing executive Hugo Jinkis, 70 Argentina	Controlling principal of Argentina-based Full Play Group	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy
	Sports marketing executive Mariano Jinkis, 40 Argentina	Controlling principal of Argentina-based Full Play Group	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy
	José Margulies, 75 Brazil	Intermediary Controlling principal of Valente Corp. and Somerton Ltd.	racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy
	Charles Blazer, 70 United States ALREADY PLEADED GUILTY	Former CONCACAF general secretary and former FIFA executive committee member	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, income tax evasion, failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts
	José Hawilla, 71 Brazil ALREADY PLEADED GUILTY	Owner and founder of Brazilian sports conglomerate Traffic Group	racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, obstruction of justice
	Daryan Warner, 46 Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada ALREADY PLEADED GUILTY	Son of Jack Warner	wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, structuring of financial transactions
	Daryll Warner, 40 United States, Trinidad and Tobago ALREADY PLEADED GUILTY	Former FIFA development officer, son of Jack Warner	wire fraud, structuring of financial transactions
	Traffic Sports International Inc. Registered British Virgin Islands ALREADY PLEADED GUILTY	None	wire fraud conspiracy
	Traffic Sports USA Registered United States ALREADY PLEADED GUILTY	None	wire fraud conspiracy

Source: U.S. Department of Justice. Photos via EPA. Graphic: Bonnie Berkowitz and Denise Lu.

[84.B.16]

Top FIFA officials arrested on charges of money-laundering, wire fraud

BY LARISA EPATKO  May 27, 2015 at 9:45 AM EDT

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/watch-live-doj-press-conference-soccer-corruption-scandal/

Walter De Gregorio, FIFA director of communications and public affairs, gestures during a news conference at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, on May 27. Seven soccer officials were arrested in Zurich on Wednesday and detained pending extradition to the United States over suspected corruption at soccer’s governing body FIFA, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice said in a statement. Photo by Ruben Sprich/Reuters

1.       Seven officials with the world soccer body Federation Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA, were arrested Wednesday, charged with racketeering, wire fraud and money-laundering after a sweeping probe alleging corruption spanning two decades.

2.       Fourteen people, including nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives, wereindicted by the U.S. Department of Justice.

3.       Of the 14 indicted, four individual defendants and two corporations already have pleaded guilty in the U.S. soccer corruption investigation alleging bribes totaling more than $150 million to obtain media and marketing rights to World Cup soccer tournaments.

4.       Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced the charges on Wednesday. “The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States,” said Lynch. “It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.”

5.       Also early Wednesday, Swiss authorities in Zurich arrested Jeffrey Webb, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Eugenio Figueredo, Rafael Esquivel and Jose Maria Marin as they were attending FIFA’s annual meeting at the upscale Baur au Lac hotel. They are now awaiting extradition to the United States.

6.       Those who pleaded guilty included Charles Blazer, the former general secretary of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, or CONCACAF, and former U.S. representative on the FIFA executive committee; Jose Hawilla, owner and founder of Brazil-based sports marketing firm Traffic Group; and two of Hawilla’s companies, Traffic Sports International Inc. and Traffic Sports USA Inc. based in Florida.

7.       “FIFA welcomes actions that can help contribute to rooting out any wrongdoing in football,” the organization said in a statement. “FIFA is fully cooperating with the investigation and is supporting the collection of evidence in this regard.”

8.       FIFA longtime president Sepp Blatter was not arrested. He is up for reelection for a fifth term on Friday. A FIFA spokesman said the election would go ahead as planned.

See a full list of defendants. They face maximum jail terms of 20 years.

[84.B.17]

Why did it take so long to crack down on corrupt FIFA?

[Questions answered by ESPN e The NYT reporters]

May 27, 2015 at 6:40 PM EDT

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/take-long-crack-corrupt-fifa/

GWEN IFILL: I am joined now by two reporters who’ve been following these events closely,

Ø  Jeremy Schaap of ESPN, who recently released a documentary exploring corruption inside FIFA, and

Ø  Matt Apuzzo.

He’s been covering the legal side of the story for The New York Times. That’s where I will start, Matt.

[01] GWEN IFILL: How is it that the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. FBI got involved in these indictments and these arrests and this investigation?

MATT APUZZO, The New York Times: American law gives the Justice Department broad latitude to target foreign nationals abroad with just the slightest nexus to the United States.

In this case, there were some meetings that were held in the United States. And most significantly for prosecutors and agents in New York is the allegations are that FIFA officials used the American banking system as part of this corrupt scheme. So that gives them the hook they need to bring these charges.

[02] GWEN IFILL: Jeremy Schaap, tell us a little bit. You have done quite a great deal of work looking into FIFA. Tell us a little bit about whether if FIFA is at its root a sports organization or kind of a global financial powerhouse.

JEREMY SCHAAP, ESPN: Or a criminal enterprise, which is pretty much what the Department of Justice was alleging today in that extraordinary press conference in Brooklyn.

I think people who have even a casual understanding of what FIFA represents associate it with corruption and cronyism and a lack of transparency. But it’s quite different to hear that coming out of the mouth of the attorney general of the United States, the director of the FBI.

Make no mistake, FIFA has weathered scandal after scandal, particularly over the course of the last 17 years, as Sepp Blatter of Switzerland has been its president, but I think this is a watershed moment.

[03] GWEN IFILL: Tell us a little bit about Sepp Blatter, Jeremy.

JEREMY SCHAAP: Well, Sepp Blatter has been president, as I said, for 17 years. He is running for reelection Friday. That would be his fifth term, after promising not to run for reelection when he ran for a fourth term four years ago.

He has been at FIFA for 40 years. He joined the organization in 1975, when he was one of 12 employees. And over the years, he’s demonstrated a remarkable aptitude for the political aspect of his job. And, by that, I mean, he has worked very effectively at perpetuating his own power.

Anyone you talk to about Sepp Blatter, who knows him well, will tell you that he is highly intelligent, that he can be charming. But it’s clear that his stewardship of this organization has been, to put it generously, lax in ethical terms.

[04] GWEN IFILL: Well, I can say that — we can repeat — it won’t hurt to repeat that he wasn’t charged with anything today.

Matt Apuzzo, of the 14 who were charged today, tell us a little bit about them and also about the charges. Are they basically being charged with rigging the game?

MATT APUZZO: You know, they’re not being charged with rigging the game of soccer. They’re being charged with rigging the business of soccer.

And Jeremy’s point is spot on. Are they a — is this a sporting group, is this a global conglomerate, or is it a criminal enterprise? The way Loretta Lynch and Jim Comey talked about FIFA, they used terms and they used charges that normally are associated with the mafia or Mexican drug cartels.

Basically, the idea is FIFA has over a billion dollars in cash reserves. They generate between $1 billion and $2 billion in revenue every year. And if you want a piece of that, if you want to be associated with the money and the prestige of the World Cup and international soccer, you have got to pay.

And, you know, the indictment just talks about, you know, here are senior FIFA officials who have the vote on where the World Cup is going to go, and they’re shopping it around to the highest bidder. One country will give me a million dollars. One country will give me $10 million.

I mean, it is just — it was just remarkable to read how explicit this stuff was.

[05] GWEN IFILL: And, Matt, as far as we — I remember the supposed. I’m not that close to a soccer fan, but I remember the surprise when Qatar, which has no culture of soccer, got the World Cup for several — several years hence, but still people were really surprised. Is there a suspicion that that was rugged?

MATT APUZZO: Well, I mean, the suspicion on the 2018 and the 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar, I mean, has just plagued FIFA for years.

But what is remarkable is, while the Swiss are investigating those two, the United States didn’t come down — those bids were not part of this investigation. Instead, they went back 20 years and said, look, this is a systemic problem that’s not limited to just one or two World Cup selections.

[06] GWEN IFILL: Well, let me ask Jeremy Schaap about that systemic problem. If this has been going on so long, if there have been this many suspicions over the years about the way that business was being done at FIFA, why is it just rising to the level of indictments now?

JEREMY SCHAAP: Well, I think Jim Comey addressed that a little bit during the press conference. A lot of it is about jurisdiction. A lot of it is about the fact that FIFA operates under Swiss law as essentially nothing more than a nonprofit, like a yodeling association. That’s often the analogy that is thrown out there.

So this multibillion-dollar conglomerate, you could call it, which has so many interests and so many aspects of global soccer, it really doesn’t have any overarching oversight from the Swiss government. We don’t know much about its workings. It doesn’t have to publish its minutes. We don’t know the salaries of its employees. It’s been able to operate under this veil of secrecy.

And, of course, over the last couple of decades, Switzerland has been trying to change its image. It doesn’t want to be considered any more the place where dictators and criminals hide their money. And FIFA has become an embarrassment. And Sepp Blatter, too, to an extent, has become an embarrassment to Switzerland.

So the fact that the Swiss cooperated and worked hand-in-hand with the U.S. Department of Justice and are conducting their own investigation, I think the importance of that cannot be overstated. And once the Swiss determine that they are going to oversee organizations such FIFA and the IOC in a different way, that might force them to be more accountable.

[07] GWEN IFILL: Matt, it sounded at the Justice Department today like this is the beginning of an investigation, not the end.

MATT APUZZO: Yes, it was really remarkable. And it’s sort of par for the course for the Justice Department to say the investigation is ongoing. But, I mean, prosecutors sort of laid down the marker here. They said, this is the beginning, not the end. And we are going to root out corruption from international soccer.

You know, especially for a new attorney general to come in and lay down that marker, with 18 months to go in her tenure, it wasn’t just the sort of, well, you know, more charges could come because the investigation is ongoing. They went there today, they went to New York to send the message to international soccer. You haven’t cleaned up your house. We are coming to clean up your house.

[08] GWEN IFILL: Matt Apuzzo of The New York Times, Jeremy Schaap of ESPN, thank you both for your work.

MATT APUZZO: Great. Thank you

JEREMY SCHAAP: Thanks.

[84.B.18]

FIFA elections: What you need to know

Watch live streaming from the 65th FIFA Congress here from 8:30 a.m. BST.

BY VIVEK CHAUDHARY

May, 29, 2015

http://www.espnfc.com/fifa-world-cup/story/2471101/fifa-elections-what-you-need-to-know

Amid corruption charges and turmoil in their organisation, FIFA will vote in their next president at the election in Zurich. You can watch the live stream above, but here is a guide to the day.

The ESPN FC panel talk FIFA presidential elections, where Gab Marcotti believes Sepp Blatter still has a very strong case on winning the elections.

Who are the candidates? And what happened to the other two?

Current FIFA president Sepp Blatter is up against his former ally Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, an experienced and well-connected football administrator who is also a member of the Jordanian Royal Family. He also used to sit on the FIFA executive committee.

There were initially four candidates in the running, but at the beginning of last week, two of them stepped down. Michael van Praag, the Dutch Football Association President, and former Real Madrid, Barcelona and Portugal striker Luis Figo decided to throw their weight behind Prince Ali because they felt he had a better chance of winning.

How does the voting work and how long will it take?

Each of FIFA's 209 member nations have a vote which is a secret ballot that takes place in Hallenstadion in Zurich. The FIFA congress begins at 8.30 a.m. BST with the vote for the presidency item 17 on the agenda, so it could be a while before the election actually gets underway.

Before members cast their votes, each of the candidates will have a chance to address delegates for 15 minutes on their programme. In the first round, a candidate needs to get a two-thirds majority (139 out of 209) to be declared the winner. If the vote is closer than that, a second round of voting is held, where a simple majority is enough. The winning candidate would require 105 votes in the second round. A result is expected by around 4 p.m. BST.

Can members abstain and what happens if they don't vote?

Yes, members can abstain if they wish. During the last FIFA presidential election in 2011, six federations, including the English FA, decided not to cast their ballot after Blatter's only rival, Mohammed bin Hammam, pulled out days before following bribery allegations. If a federation decides not to vote in the election, the vote will not be counted. There may be some federations that are not allowed to vote because of technical reasons, but that will be announced ahead of the vote.

Who will vote for who? And what don't we know?

Both the Confederation of African Football and the Asian Football Confederation are likely to back Blatter, having already come out in favour of him. Between them that is 100 votes already. Prince Ali is favoured by Europe, and according to UEFA president Michel Platini is likely to pick up "45 or 46" votes from UEFA's 53 members.

What is less clear is the way North America (CONCACAF) and South America (CONMEBOL) nations will go. America's national federation has already stated it will back Prince Ali. What is also not known is the impact this week's arrests of leading FIFA officials on corruption charges will have on voting.

 

Who would you vote for as FIFA president?

 SEPP BLATTER

 PRINCE ALI BIN AL HUSSEIN

What happens if Blatter wins?

Expect more of the same with some minor reforms. Blatter has insisted throughout his campaign that, overall, there is nothing wrong with how FIFA is run. The World Cup is hugely popular and football's reach is spreading into new territories. FIFA claims to have already initiated some changes to combat corruption and is likely to introduce some other ones if Blatter secures a fifth term, such as more accountability for how money for development projects is spent.

This will not satisfy critics, and if Blatter does win, expect more political fireworks from the likes of UEFA, who are threatening to call an extraordinary general meeting of FIFA within three months in an attempt to oust him.

What happens if Prince Ali wins?

FIFA officials who have arrived for the 65th FIFA congress have said that Blatter is still the favourite for president despite recent arrests.

Apart from great delight within UEFA, there will be a root and branch overhaul in how FIFA does business and spends its money. The Prince has promised major reforms in a number of key areas, such as the sale of media and marketing rights for major tournaments. Greater accountability will also be introduced in how FIFA distributes an estimated $1 billion to smaller football nations for development projects and how it is spent.

Transparency and accountability have been key words in the high-profile campaign run by the Prince. He will also look to get rid of the FIFA bureaucracy and culture of patronage which he claims leads to corruption. Under the Prince, expect a cleaner, leaner, more efficient FIFA.

Vivek Chaudhary is a journalist who writes for The Independent and other leading media. He's currently writing a book about the Indian sport of kabaddi.

[84.B.19]

BBC UK

How Fifa's presidential election will work?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32920191

Acesso em 29mai2015

Friday will see world football's governing body hold presidential elections in Zurich, as it carries on with "business as usual" despite the upheavals of recent days. Fifa says it is not clear what time the vote will take place, but it is likely to occur in the afternoon, Zurich time.

So what will happen, what can we expect - and what surprises may emerge?

 

[1] Who is standing?

This is one element, at least, that seems predictable - unless one of the candidates withdraws at the last minute, as they did four years ago.

Sepp Blatter, 79, is seeking a fifth term as Fifa president. He has vowed to remain as a candidate, despite the arrest of seven Fifa officials on charges that they received more than $150m (£100m) in bribes.

He is being challenged by the Jordanian, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, 39. He has been the head of his country's football association since 1999 and is founder of theWest Asian Football Federation.

 

[2] What do they stand for?

According to Mr Blatter's profile on the Fifa website, "his key messages and aspirations are credibility, transparency and fair play". His philosophy, it says, is: "Football for all, all for football."

Prince Ali says he would aim "to shift the focus away from administrative controversy and back to sport", to make Fifa more transparent and distribute earnings more equally.

 

[3] How does the vote work?

It will be a secret ballot, and all Fifa's 209 member states have a vote each. Members vote in alphabetical order, and it will take some time.

In the first round, if either of the candidates wins two-thirds of the vote - a total of 140 votes if everyone takes part - then he wins.

If there is no outright winner at the end of the first round, a candidate would need to win only a straight majority in a second round of voting.

 

[4] How are they likely to vote?

This is where things get a little unclear.

Although the ballot is secret, many of the world's six football associations, in which member states are grouped, have already said which way they will vote.

Michel Platini, the president of the European federation, Uefa, said on Thursday that "a large majority" of Europe's 53 football associations would vote for Prince Ali.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF), with 54 members, and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), with 46, said they still backed Mr Blatter. But Australia, an AFC member, said it would vote for Prince Ali.

Mr Blatter has also traditionally enjoyed support from the North American federation, Concacaf, whose president, Jeffrey Webb, was among those arrested on Thursday.

It is not known how members in South America and Oceania plan to vote.

 

[5] Who can vote?

Not all Fifa members are countries, and all have an equal vote - so Montserrat, a British territory in the Caribbean with 4,900 residents, has the same voice as India, that has a population of more than 1.2bn people.

 

[6] Can members abstain?

Yes - and six states did so during the last presidential election in 2011. One of them, the English Football Association, did so after Mr Blatter's only rival, Mohammed bin Hammam, pulled out days before the election after being suspended over bribery allegations. Mr Blatter was re-elected after receiving 186 of the 203 votes cast.

 

[7] Can countries show their opposition in other ways?

Yes, and the English FA tried to do so in 2011. They called for a delay in the vote because of the corruption allegations, but only 16 other states backed their motion and the election went ahead. It is not yet clear whether a similar motion will be tabled on Friday. Uefa chief Platini called on Mr Blatter to stand down on Thursday but he refused to do so. The organisation had also asked for the vote to be postponed - a call not supported by the AFC or CAF.

The BBC has learned that Uefa could call for an extraordinary general meeting of Fifa's Congress if Mr Blatter wins on Friday. If 20% of members agree with the motion, the meeting would have to be held within three months - and a motion of no confidence would almost certainly be put forward.

 

[8] What does the president actually do?

The president of Fifa presides over its executive committee - where the organisation's real power lies. He or she supervises the committee's eight vice presidents and 15 ordinary members, and casts a deciding vote when necessary.

According to Fifa's statutes, the president also "legally represents" the organisation, "maintains relations between Fifa and the confederations, members, political bodies and international organisations", and "implements the decisions passed by the Congress and the Executive Committee".

[9] And how much do they earn?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the recent revelations, the Fifa presidential salary is shrouded in secrecy and estimates vary wildly. According to Fifa's 2014 financial report it paid a total salaries bill of $88.6m, of which $39.7 million, excluding pension contributions, was paid to "key management personnel" - the executive committee, finance committee and general Fifa management. That $39.7 million is not broken down any further however. Mr Blatter said in 2011 that his salary was "$1m perhaps a bit more", before adding: "I'm not ashamed by that".

What we do know is that total salaries paid to Fifa key management personnel increased by 95% between 2010 and 2014.

FIFA IN CRISIS

Ø  Fifa vote: Why Africa backs Blatter

Ø  The woman who took on Fifa

Ø  Why so long for Swiss Fifa probe?

Ø  Chuck Blazer: Fifa 'supergrass'

 

[84.B.20]

BBC UK SPORTS

FIFA crisis: UEFA [Platini] wants presidential election postponed

European football's leaders are to meet on Thursday in a bid to postpone Fifa's presidential election.

Source: BBC

28 May 2015Last updated at 07:15 GMT; Acesso em 29mi2015

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32904317

UEFA does not want Friday's vote to go ahead after bribery and racketeering charges were laid against senior officials in football's governing body.

"These events show, once again, that corruption is deeply rooted in Fifa's culture," Uefa said.

Prince ALI BIN AL-HUSSEIN of Jordan is standing against incumbent Sepp Blatter in the election. Prince Ali has called for a change of Fifa's leadership and said in a statement: "We cannot continue with the crisis in Fifa."

Uefa said Friday's meeting of Fifa's members risked turning into "a farce" and said it could even boycott the gathering.

"The Uefa member associations are meeting ahead of the Fifa Congress. At that point, the European associations will decide on what further steps need to be taken to protect the game of football," it added in a statement.

"In the meantime, the members of the Uefa Executive Committee are convinced that there is a strong need for a change to the leadership of this Fifa and strongly believe that the Fifa Congress should be postponed, with new Fifa presidential elections to be organised within the next six months."

However, Uefa's stance is not shared by all football administrators. The Asian Football Confederation opposes a postponed election - and will vote for Blatter.

Analysis - BBC sports editor Dan Roan

"The fact Uefa has come out and threatened to boycott the general assembly that begins on Friday unless the election is postponed, tells you everything. The stakes are being raised. Blatter's opponents are seeking to capitalise on the biggest predicament of his career. He has been here before of course and is vastly experienced, one of sport's great survivors. Do not be surprised if he can resist the call for him to step down, postpone the election or a sensational recount."

In addition to a United States-led criminal investigation, Swiss officials are looking into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids.

Fifa has welcomed the investigations into alleged corruption by some of its most powerful figures and said there is no question of re-running the 2018 and 2022 bids.

It has also insisted the election will go ahead as planned.

Fifa's Independent Ethics Committee has also banned 11 officials named by investigators from football activities. "Such misconduct has no place in football and we will ensure that those who engage in it are put out of the game," Blatter said. 'They'll have no option but to rethink and revote'

[BLATTER: Fifa say there will not be a revote for the 2018 World Cup in Russia or the 2022 tournament in Qatar]

Lennart Johansson, former president of European football's governing body Uefa, says the decision to award the World Cup to Russia and Qatar should now be reviewed.

The 85-year-old Swede told newspaper Sportbladet: "I expect they will reconsider the decisions. Blatter himself has said that the decision to go east wasn't proper. I am sure the initiative will now be taken to make a new decision."

He also suggested England should be given the finals in 2018: "They haven't had it since 1966, and it's considered 'the motherland of football', whatever we might think. They are worthy of the attention," Johansson said.

Lineker calls for Fifa 'boycott'

Former England captain and BBC Match of the Day presenter GARY LINEKER agreed that the bidding process should be reviewed: "There are now major investigations not just concerning Fifa and corruption but also the two bids - World Cups 2018 and 2022 - so a lot will depend on how rotten it was and how corrupt the voting process was.

"If it's substantial enough then I think they'll have no option but to rethink and revote. It's a mess, it's a huge mess."

Former Football Association (FA) chief executive MARK PALIOS believes Fifa's resolve in not re-running a bid could be "tested". He told the BBC: "In the past they've said if there is proven corruption of the process they would make changes and this is first time that will actually be tested."

However, ALEXEY SOROKIN, Russia 2018's organising committee head said he was "not afraid" of any criminal investigation or concerned about a revote.

"We repeatedly said the process was transparent," he told Sky Sports. "Our government, our country, has done so much already for the preparation of an excellent World Cup, I don't even want to discuss it with anyone."

In a statement on Thursday, the organising committee added that it would "cooperate fully" with the investigation.

Can Friday's election go ahead?

Prince ALI is the only challenger to Swiss Blatter after former Portugal international LUIS FIGO and Dutch Football Federation boss MICHAEL VAN PRAAG withdrew so as not to split the anti-Blatter vote.

Blatter, who has been in power since 1998, is expected to win a fifth term as president as he is understood to have the backing of the majority of Fifa's 209 member associations - despite the opposition from Uefa, which has 53 member associations.

And FA chairman GREG DYKE told BBC Radio 5 live: "This is a very serious day for Fifa and the leadership of Fifa and we would vote for Prince Ali.

"We were one of the people who nominated him to stand against Sepp Blatter and we would certainly vote for him if the election goes ahead but I'm not sure that it will go ahead in these circumstances."

DYKE added: "There is no way of rebuilding trust in Fifa while Sepp Blatter is still there. Blatter has to go. He either has to go through a resignation, or he has to be out-voted or we have to find a third way."

DAVID MELLOR, chairman of the government's Football Task Force between 1997 and 1999, said: "To say this election can go on Friday takes absurdity to unrivalled lengths."

Former FA chairman DAVID BERNSTEIN told the BBC voters need more time to assess the ramifications of Wednesday's news and that the election should be postponed.

"There's too much uncertainty and a lot of evidence and stuff to come onto the table that you would've thought people would want to know about," he said.

However, former Fifa advisor MICHAEL HERSHMAN told the BBC: "I reckon they will go ahead. I think Blatter has enough confidence to win, which is really unfortunate. Whilst not getting arrested himself he must take responsibility for creating a climate within Fifa which has led to various scandals and essentially to these arrests."

 

FIFA UNDER BLATTER 'LACKS CREDIBILITY'

Prince ALI, the man hoping to oust Blatter added a change of leadership was needed to restore confidence in Fifa. He said Fifa needed leadership that:

Ø  Governs guides and protects our national associations

Ø  Accepts responsibility for its actions and does not pass blame

Ø  Restores confidence in the hundreds of millions of football fans around the world

BBC Newsnight chief correspondent LAURA KUENSSBERG said Blatter may be quizzed following Wednesday's developments.

A spokesman for the Swiss attorney general, ANDRE MARTY, told Kuenssberg that "theoretically, every person involved in the allocation of the World Cups might be questioned".

Earlier this week, Uefa chief MICHEL PLATINI said Fifa will continue to "lack credibility" as long as Blatter remains in place.

LINEKER also believes Blatter must go: "There can't be a more corrupt, deplorable organisation on Earth than Fifa. The house of cards is falling. Time for change!"

Britain's Minister for Sport TRACEY CROUCH said she "fully backed" calls for change, claiming "reform is urgently needed at the top of Fifa".

Labour too has called for Blatter to "step aside" and urged sponsors to withdraw support unless Fifa initiates "fundamental and immediate reform".

 

How the drama unfolded

Dawn raids were carried out at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, where Fifa officials are staying. The raids were connected to a US Department of Justice 47-count indictment charging 14 defendants with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies in a 24-year scheme.

Seven Fifa officials were arrested on charges they received more than $150m (£100m) in bribes.

Among those arrested is Fifa vice-president Jeffrey Webb.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a US law enforcement organisation, also raided the headquarters of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) in Miami. Six of the seven arrested in Switzerland are challenging their extradition to the US, Swiss officials later revealed.

'Impact could be seismic'
BBC Radio 5 live sports news correspondent Richard Conway says the double corruption probe could influence the result of Friday's presidential election. "The arrests could have a significant impact on voters," he said.

In a separate development only hours after the arrests, Swiss authorities also opened criminal proceedings over the way hosting rights were awarded for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar respectively.

Electronic data was seized from Fifa's headquarters in Zurich as part of a investigation into "criminal mismanagement" and "money laundering". Swiss police intend to question 10 Fifa executive committee members who took part in the voting process in December 2010.

 

What is Fifa's official line?

Fifa spokesman WALTER DE GREGORIO said Friday's election - and the 2018 and 2022 World Cups - would go ahead as planned and said Blatter was not involved in the allegations. Fifa spokesman Walter De Gregorio: "This confirms that we are on the right track."

In a hastily arranged news conference, De Gregorio also said Fifa "welcomed" the investigations, which they had instigated.

Last year, Fifa filed a criminal complaint to Swiss federal prosecutors following an investigative report by its then ethics committee chairman MICHAEL GARCIA.

"It is a hard time for us. But this is good for Fifa. It confirms that we are on the right track," added De Gregorio.

However, on Blatter's reaction to this "welcome" news, he added: "He is not dancing in his office. He is not kind of a happy man today saying, 'that's really cool what happened'."

Later, Blatter issued a statement condemning corrupt practices, revealing 11 Fifa members had been suspended from all football activity while the investigation is ongoing. "We will work vigorously within Fifa in order to root out any misconduct, to regain your trust and ensure that football worldwide is free from wrongdoing," he said.

'Shocking and harmful to football'

German Football Association president WOLFGANG NIERSBACH said the twin corruption probe was "shocking and harmful for the world of football". He added: "It would be terrible if the severe accusations against members of Fifa prove to be correct."

Part of the US-led investigation is centred on BRAZIL'S 1996 sponsorship deal with a major US sportswear company - only referred to as 'Company A' in court documents – and DILMA ROUSSEFF, Brazilian president, said: "I don't think it will be damaging to Brazil, and Brazilian football can only benefit from it. "If they have to investigate Brazil's bid for the World Cup, they should investigate all the bids."

NIKE signed a $100m (£65m) deal with the Brazilian Football Confederation in 1996 [CBF - being J. HAWILLA the intermediary] and has issued a statement saying it is "concerned by the very serious allegations". It added: "We have been co-operating, and will continue to co-operate, with the authorities."

Legendary former Argentina World Cup winner DIEGO MARADONA told an Argentine radio station he would "kick the ass" of any Fifa officials found guilty of corruption.

But ex-Brazil striker and current State senator ROMARIO, speaking in the Brazilian Senate, said: "I believe that things will change after this. And I hope we can have decent people ahead of football."

 

Concern among Fifa's backers

[corporate partners: VISA, COCA-COLA, MACDONALD’S, ADIDAS, BUDWEISER]

Fifa's corporate partners include some of the globe's biggest brands - and they are all monitoring the situation carefully. Some have expressed concern, with others already moving to distance themselves from Wednesday's events.

The toughest talkers were financial services giants VISA. Visa said its "disappointment and concern" was "profound" and called on Fifa to take "swift and immediate steps" to rebuild its culture. "Should Fifa fail to do so, we have informed them that we will reassess our sponsorship," Visa added.

Global soft drink company COCA COLA said: "This lengthy controversy has tarnished the mission and ideals of the Fifa World Cup and we have repeatedly expressed our concerns about these serious allegations. "We expect Fifa to continue to address these issues thoroughly."

Sportswear brand ADIDAS said it was "fully committed to creating a culture that promotes the highest standards of ethics and compliance, and we expect the same from our partners. "Following today's news, we can therefore only encourage Fifa to continue to establish and follow transparent compliance standards in everything they do."

Fast food company MCDONALD'S also spoke of its "concern". "McDonald's takes matters of ethics and corruption very seriously and the news from the US Department of Justice is extremely concerning. We are in contact with Fifa on this matter. We will continue to monitor the situation very closely," the organisation said.

Beer brand BUDWEISER [property of AB_Inbev] also issued a statement in response: "We expect all of our partners to maintain strong ethical standards and operate with transparency. "We continue to closely monitor the situation through our ongoing communications with Fifa."

 

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