Swiss authorities have frozen roughly $80M "worth of assets and handed a batch of bank documents to their U.S. counterparts to be used in criminal proceedings against high-ranking functionaries" of FIFA, according to Catherine Bosley of BLOOMBERG. Having received a U.S. request for legal assistance earlier this year, "Swiss judicial authorities ordered a large amount of bank documents be collected, according to a statement from the Federal Office of Justice." The statement said, "It relates to bank accounts allegedly used for bribes connected with the grant of marketing rights to soccer tournaments in Latin America and the USA." The frozen assets "stem from 13 bank accounts, the FoJ said in the statement." They will "stay frozen until the legal assistance proceedings have been concluded, and U.S. authorities can then apply for them to be handed over (BLOOMBERG, 12/30). REUTERS' Joshua Franklin reported U.S. prosecutors "have charged 41 people and entities in a probe" of football corruption spanning the globe. Football bosses from throughout the Americas "are among the defendants in a case" that prosecutors said involves $200M in bribes and kickback schemes tied to marketing of major tournaments and matches (REUTERS, 12/30). The AP reported records "related to sports marketing agency ISL have also been requested." The American probe into the ISL scandal, "which plunged FIFA into a crisis at the time, is believed to be targeting suspended FIFA President Sepp Blatter." ISL was found to have "routinely bribed top sports officials, including Blatter predecessor Joao Havelange, before collapsing into criminal bankruptcy" in '01 (AP, 12/30).
