Brazil's federal internal revenue service, the Receita Federal (RS), said that it has been "running an investigation of fraud in football" within the country since '02, according to Jay Forte of the RIO TIMES. RS' announcement was made two days after the U.S. FBI "arrested seven leaders" from FIFA for "involvement in a corruption scheme." An RS statement said, "Three special enforcement operations were conducted since 2002, which have investigated 96 individuals and companies. These audits resulted in collection of taxes, fines and interest amounting to R$4.47 billion ($1.4B)." However, the RS said that, due to tax secrecy, it "can not report the names of those involved." The Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) has "announced its full support for the investigations of the FBI and Brazilian authorities" (RIO TIMES, 5/31). ESTADÃO reported the RS statement "pointed out" that some people mentioned in the recent operation are "on the list" of those needing financial assessment. The RS also "contacted the American" IRS to "learn about the investigation against people connected" to FIFA, which includes several Brazilians (ESTADÃO, 5/29).
