The Dept. of Justice announced the arrest in Zurich early Wednesday of seven of the 14 FIFA officials and corporate executives it charged with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies in connection with “a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer.”
But the name of Sepp Blatter–Swiss football administrator and president since 1998 of the Federation Internationale de Football Association–was absent from the list of the high ranking officials who were indicted.
“Let me be clear: this indictment is not the final chapter in our investigation,” said Acting US Attorney Kelly T. Currie, in a possible sign of more to come.
Besides the soccer officials, the DoJ indicted US and South American sports marketing executives “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.”
The DoJ also unsealed guilty pleas of four individual defendants and two corporate defendants.
The moves by the office of the new US attorney general, Loretta E. Lynch, come as the country has begun to wade into a sport long popular elsewhere in the world.
“The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States,” Lynch said. “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,” she said.
FIFA, composed of 209 member associations, also recognizes six continental confederations. The US 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.
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 indictment alleges that, between 1991 and the present, 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.”
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.
Following the dawn arrests in Zurich, Swiss authorities have opened criminal cases related to the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, The New York Times reported.
“Electronic data and documents were seized today at FIFA’s head office in Zurich,” the Swiss officials said, according to the Times’ report.
