I'm sure this won't amount to much.....but it's interesting FIFA: U.S. indicts 14 for corruption, Switzerland opens separate probe
Hopefully it's just the beginning, and the whole house crashes down. The charges seem to be based a lot on the upcoming World Cup bids, and I would love to see those two countries stripped of the Cup, because of their bribery.
Here's a funny but probably true take on it: http://www.atlredline.com/only-the-american-justice-system-could-go-after-fifa-1707174748 It’s almost like Swiss said, “We do not agree with your American obsession with financial crimes, and we usually stay out of matters of foreign intrigue... wait, did you say ‘FIFA’? Oh, we’ll help you get those bastards.”
There are two sets of cases being pursued. 1. The U.S. government is going after corruption involving CONCACAF and CONMEBOL officials and activity which flowed through U.S. banks. That is why all of the FIFA officials being extradited are from the Americas. Switzerland will not extradite for tax evasion but they will for criminal charges. The people, including the sports broadcasting and marketing officials, being indicted by the U.S. could face jail time along with fines and other loss of money. 2. The Swiss government is investigating corruption related to the World Cup bids. They are going after FIFA officials from various countries. That is being investigated as a domestic Swiss crime since FIFA is chartered in Switzerland and those officials are effectively being charged with defrauding a Swiss company.
Indicted by the U.S. Attorney: Jeffrey Webb - president of CONCACAF and FIFA vice president Chuck Blazer - former CONCACAF general secretary and FIFA excutive committee member Eduardo Li, current FIFA executive committee president and president of the Costa Rican soccer federation. Julio Rocha, current FIFA development officer and former head of the Central American Football Union. Costas Takkas, an attache and former general secretary of the Cayman Islands Football Association. Eugenio Figueredo, current FIFA vice president and executive committee members. Rafael Esquivel, president of the Venezuelan soccer federation. Jose Maria Marin, member of the FIFA organizing committee for the Olympic football tournaments. Nicolas Leoz, former FIFA executive committee member. Jose Hawilla - owner and founder of Traffic Group Alejandro Burzaco, a sports marketing executive based in Argentina. Aaron Davidson, president of Traffic Sports USA and General Director of NASL Hugo and Mariano Jinkis, principals of Full Play Group, a sports marketing business based in Argentina.
Some light reading for my BS peeps. These indictments appear to stem from a couple of years ago when Chuck Blazer in an effort to save himself began cooperating with the Feds. He apparently pled guilty in 2013 presumably on an information filed by the US Attorney. His plea was sealed in order for him to cooperate with the investigation. Here's a copy of the indictment https://www.dropbox.com/s/c85v09xnv7x3a7x/Concacafindictment.pdf?dl=0
Here’s my proposal for 2022. Ask yourself. Why do we need FIFA to have a tournament of the world’s best teams? America has the investors, the infrastructure and the logistics experience to put on events of any size. All it would take would be to get enough big time investors to get the ball rolling and provide legitimacy to the tournament and then get a few big teams to take a chance and be the first domino. We could call it the 2022 World Football Championships.
It's interesting how "Don" Blatter was able to keep from being connected to all of this... Chuck Blazer: American soccer bigwig turned informant
I wonder if this comes up again now that these lawsuits put the Russian and Qatar bids in a different light.. U.S. senators ask FIFA to move 2018 World Cup out of Russia (From April 1, 2015)
I knew US Senators were against the 2018 World Cup, but I didn't know they sent out letters against Sepp Blatter's reelection due to his support of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public...nendez-letter-to-fifa-re-russia-world-cup.pdf
Furthermore....I know it was $10 mil but if you are going to bribe someone, why submit an official letter from your gov to FIFA documenting it?! LOL
what happened between Friday and today? guessing Seppy got a look at the evidence and pulled the parachute. That or the Feds showed him their hand and threatened to nail him unless he stepped down and cooperated. I hope its the later PS Fck you Qatar!!
I know you are prob joking, but i love the idea. The problem is that there arent enough fans in the US to support this idea. People would miss the economic advantages and would concentrate on misperceptions such as "boring game that accepts zero zero ties, low scoring, diving. Sport for foreigners" I agree that the world doesnt need fifa. Fk tradition.
Considering that the only thing these crooks care about is money, my theory is one or more of the top-tier WC sponsors (Visa/Coca-Cola/McDonalds/etc) specifically demanded Sepp's head roll or they'd withdraw sponsorship.
This letter was uncovered that contradicted what FIFA had said about $10 million bribe to S. Africa for the 2010 WC. It basically found that Blatter’s right-hand man (Jérôme Valcke, the soccer organization’s secretary general) may have played a key role in the organization’s ongoing corruption problems. The FIFA criminal investigation got too close for Sepp Blatter to survive BOMBSHELL: Letter from South Africa FA to FIFA instructing $10m payment to Warner WAS addressed to Jerome Valcke pic.twitter.com/b0yKBPRAcA— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) June 2, 2015
There's probably some consideration to the potential legal and criminal issues in the US that pushed Blatter to resign (I'm sure he's got top legal counsel on this) but you are probably right, much more likely that the major sponsors were going to start to pull their money out and except for Gazprom and other Middle Eastern government-owned entities, no major global company would replace those lost dollars. If Coca-Cola pulled out, Pepsi was not rushing in.
One of my theories is that a corporation or group complained to the FBI about being extorted, or possibly several entities. The enemies of FIFA are powerful, I am assuming, and FIFA's overreach is epically greedy.
Why the election? Because if he loses the election he is out. Now he gets to leave on his terms. I would much rather cover my track from inside my office than from out on the street. Plus as someone who is stepping down he still has weight in all sorts of decisions.
I am actually somewhat serious. Plus, there are plenty of fans. World Cup is the ONLY soccer that, as a whole, America watches. Plus you have fans from all over the world coming in. Its all about getting the first few domino to fall.