Burn the mother********ers to the ground. But we'll see how far the FBI is willing to go. If they are serious about bringing down FIFA, they could use racketeering laws to classify the entire organization as a criminal conspiracy (which, of course, it basically is), and then they could come down on the broadcasters and sponsors witha ny kind of US business presence. That would cut the money umbilical which is the only way FIFA can actually be changed. Blatter can probably survive anything short of that as long as the money keeps flowing, and I suspect the FBI will lack the mandate to do more than go after whatever low-hanging CONCACAF scum fruit are on its list.
The statement of DOJ here. A key section: "...Also this morning, a search warrant is being executed at CONCACAF headquarters in Miami, Florida. 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..." Archer? Blazer is GUILTY, mo*$&$*$*$er. Stop your ride-or-die for him. They're all guilty.
What do you call the arrest of 14 #FIFA and FIFA-related individuals? A Good Start: http://bit.ly/1J4H363
The investigations are only about dirty money and corruptions conducted in the United States. I do believe a lot of dirty money went through elsewhere. Several African officials were mentioned in earlier allegations. I am sure that this is the only beginning.
The list of accused: http://screamer.deadspin.com/reports-justice-department-brings-the-goddamn-hammer-d-1707109298 Those people include nine FIFA officials: Jeffrey Webb (Cayman Islands) - President of CONCACAF, member of FIFA Executive Committee Eugenio Figueredo (Uruguay) - President of CONMEBOL, member of FIFA Executive Committee Jack Warner (Trinida and Tobago) - President of CONCACAF from 1990 to 2011, former FIFA vice-president Eduardo Li (Costa Rica) - President of the Costa Rican Football Federation, CONCACAF representative to FIFA Julio Rocha (Nicaragua) - President of the Nicaraguan Football Federation, FIFA development officer Costas Takkas (Cayman Islands) - Former general secretary of the Cayman Islands Football Association Rafael Esquivel (Venezuela) - President of the Venezuelan Football Federation since 1988, member of the FIFA disciplinary committee José Maria Marin (Brazil) - President of the Brazilian Football Confederation from 2012 to 2015, president of the 2014 FIFA World Cup committee Nicolás Leoz (Paraguay) - President of CONMEBOL from 1986 to 2013 And five sports marketing execs: Alejandro Burzaco (Argentina) - CEO of Torneos y Competencias, which owns various sports television channels and broadcasted Argentine domestic football matches from 1992 to 2009, and the 2006 World Cup Aaron Davidson (United States) - President of Traffic Sports USA, which organizes and handles marketing for a variety of CONCACAF soccer events, like World Cup Qualifying and the Gold Cup. Chairman of the Board of the North American Soccer League, the soccer tier below MLS Hugo Jinkis (Argentina) - President of Full Play, which owns some sort of rights (I am unclear which ones) to hundreds of South American soccer matches Mariano Jinkis (Argentina) - CEO of Full Play, which owns some sort of rights (I am unclear which ones) to hundreds of South American soccer matches José Margulies (Unknown) - Margulies is somehow involved with Traffic Sports 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 kick-backs between the early 1990s and the present day. 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-organizations –totaling more than USD 100 million. 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. From the various reports, it seems like there are two parallel investigations going on here. The Swiss statement makes no mention [of ] Qatar, only the awarding of various rights for Latin American soccer tournaments stretching back into the 1990s. [Sportswriter Jeremy] Schaap’s statement is clearly referring to the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, which happened on December 2, 2010. So, assuming that people are being charged under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for Qatar shenanigans, it had to happen soon. Remember, there were some deadlines looming because of the 5-year statute of limitations on foreign corrupt practices act.— Jeremy Schaap (@JeremySchaap) May 27, 2015
If Sepp is at all worried about himself, will he travel to Canada for the Women's WC thereby exposing himself to arrest? I believe Canada is as good as the US as far as jurisdiction. And I don't believe the FBI and DOJ are acting in a vacuum, there must be more international cooperation going on. I don't think they'd stick their necks out if there weren't.
Looks like the Swiss are investigating the awarding of the WCs: A statement from the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland makes clear that its own investigation (separate from the FBI’s which concerns more general corruption, particularly in media rights deals) focuses specifically on the controversial World Cup bidding process. "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....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" http://deadspin.com/fifa-says-there-will-be-no-world-cup-re-vote-1707141463
It looks like the Swiss might end up being the ones to snag Sepp. The current US investigations aren't looking at FIFA so much as CONCACAF and CONMEBOL.
Switzerland wasn't going to let the US waltz into their country and snag one of their own citizens for sure. I'm sure there was a lot of negotiation about who was on the table and who wasn't.
Is it 11:30 EST or 10:30? I'm seeing conflicting times on Twitter. England isn't currently on GMT time, which is what's leading to the confusion. England's 5 hours ahead of EST, but GMT is only 4 hours ahead. So if Dan Roan's tweet is accurate, it would be 11:30 AM EST.
To be fair, the US would probably be more than happy to let the Swiss take the lead on the awarding of rights issue. Keeps us out of any accusations of sour grapes. The US case is, as of now, simply about corruption related to awarding of rights and the like.
To add to the confusion, the Eastern US is on EDT right now, not EST. I'm guessing he didn't really mean GMT so much as "London time."
The US and SWISS are investigating two different things. The U.S.: alleged bribery throughout CONMEBOL and CONCACAF regarding awarding of television and presentation rights. The SWISS: alleged corruption in the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 cups. Sepp is not likely to be involved in the former, but may be involved in the latter. If the U.S. makes this high of a profile move, they are not going to let someone like the Swiss dictate anything.
Several Swiss accounts have been blocked or seized: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/11631966/fifa-executives-arrested-live.html BREAKING: Swiss Federal Office of Justice has blocked bank accounts relating to the Fifa investigation at banks in Switzerland. "Further to three US requests for legal assistance, the FOJ has also ordered the blocking of accounts at several banks in Switzerland through which bribes are claimed to have flowed as well as the seizure of related bank documents," the office said. The FOJ said Eugenio Figueredo has been arrested on request from the US with the following seven men: Eduardo Li, Jose Maria Marin, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Jeffrey Webb, and Rafael Esquivel in detention pending extradition.
As long as someone snags him. Seems like the Swiss want their own pound of flesh too. Why do I have this warm feeling that the chickens are coming home to roost?
I'd say, it's probably 100% that anyone who has information on a bigger fish will start singing like a canary. No one is going to take one for the FIFA team, and certainly not for Sepp Blatter. The threat of federal jail time melts bonds of loyalty and friendship like ice in a Qatari summer. The four guys who have already pled out (including Chuck Blazer) have probably been cooperating with authorities for quite some time now, and have received good deals as a result. I imagine there are a lot of people at FIFA headquarters right now who are sweating through their bespoke suits. The Germans have a word for how I'm feeling right now.
This is front Page on CNN. It looks like the US focused on US based actions so that there is no questions on Jurisdiction. The fact that they already have some singing is not good for the higher ups at FIFA, and good for everyone else.