Swiss authorities 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.
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The arrests were made as FIFA's 209 national member associations were gathering for the group's presidential election, held every four years.
The charges, backed by an FBI investigation, allege widespread corruption in FIFA over the past two decades, involving bids for World Cups as well as marketing and broadcast deals, according to three law enforcement officials with direct knowledge of the case.
The indictment names 14 people on charges including racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. In addition to senior soccer officials, the indictment is also expected to name 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, according to one government official briefed on the matter.
The official said the soccer officials charged are Jeffrey Webb, Eugenio Figueredo, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, Jose Maria Marin, Nicolas Leoz and Jack Warner.
Charges were also expected against sports-marketing executives Alejandro Burzaco, Aaron Davidson, Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis. Authorities also charged Jose Margulies as an intermediary who facilitated illegal payments.
In bidding for the right to host the 2022 World Cup, Football Federation Australia invested $500,000 for a stadium upgrade in Trinidad and Tobago - Warner's home country - which FFA chairman Frank Lowy later said was an embarrassing mistake.
On advice FFA received, the money was paid directly to Warner's bank account. It is widely believed Warner, despite pocketing the money personally, voted for Qatar anyway.
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; the CONCACAF Champions League; the Copa America; and 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.
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.
"We're struck by just how long this went on for and how it touched nearly every part of what FIFA did," a law enforcement official said. "It just seemed to permeate every element of the federation and was just their way of doing business. It seems like this corruption was institutionalised."
The inquiry is also a major threat to Sepp Blatter, FIFA's longtime president who is generally recognized as the most powerful person in sports, although he was not charged. He 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. An election, seemingly pre-ordained to give Blatter a fifth term as president, is scheduled for Friday.
The Justice Department, the FBI and FIFA did not have any immediate comment on the investigation or arrests.
US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who supervised the FIFA investigation in her previous role as the US attorney in Brooklyn, and FBI Director James Comey were expected to hold a news conference Wednesday morning in New York.
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, 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 a US court.
US 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 a US bank or Internet service provider.
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 US courts.
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 operated with little oversight and even less transparency. Alexandra Wrage, a governance consultant who once unsuccessfully attempted to help overhaul FIFA's methods, famously labeled the organization "byzantine and impenetrable."
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.
CONCACAF was led from 1990 to 2011 by Warner, the longtime head of Trinidad and Tobago's federation. A key power broker in FIFA's governing executive committee, 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.
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 2010 FIFA presidential election. A 2013 CONCACAF report also found that he had received tens of millions of dollars in misappropriated funds.
But according to the rules of FIFA at the time, 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.
New York Times
