FIFA launched a legal battle to claim more than £100M ($142M) from corrupt officials and "admitted for the first time that South Africa paid bribes for votes for the 2010 World Cup," according to Martyn Ziegler of the LONDON TIMES.
A legal notice served at the U.S. district court in N.Y. by FIFA's lawyers claims "restitution" of much of the £135M ($193M) forfeited by some of the 41 officials who have been indicted on corruption charges. FIFA says assets worth a further £70M ($99.8M) have been frozen by U.S. authorities.
The organization "will also demand compensation for legal fees it has been forced to pay since the scandal broke last May." In some months "these fees topped" $10M. The move aims to consolidate the organization’s position as a "victim" of the crimes despite the fact that its leaders were "either involved in the corruption or turned a blind eye to it." Significantly, the FIFA document also states that senior figures from the South African bid committee paid a $10M bribe to FIFA exec committee members Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer "for their votes." It is the first time the world governing body has admitted that the money, which was channeled through a FIFA account, "was a bribe." FIFA’s legal submission to the U.S. court said that Warner, who is currently fighting extradition from Trinidad to the U.S., had been offered a bribe by South Africa’s rivals, Morocco, and had already received a briefcase containing "$10,000 in cash from a high-ranking South African bid committee official" (LONDON TIMES, 3/16).
SEEKING DAMAGES: In London, Ralph Atkins wrote by exposing the results of internal investigations as well as by U.S. legal authorities, FIFA "risks fuelling concern" about the extent to which votes were "bought" when decisions were taken on past World Cup venues.
FIFA said that the defendants in U.S. legal actions had "grossly abused their positions of trust to enrich themselves, while causing significant direct and proximate harm to Fifa." FIFA added, "They looked for ways to line their own pockets and siphon off opportunities. They did violence to Fifa’s principles, goals and objectives as they promoted their own self-interests and sought to enrich themselves at Fifa’s and football’s expense" (FT, 3/16).
FIFA PURSUES FORMER LEADERS: Also in London, Ben Rumsby wrote FIFA "also alludes to former executive committee member Ricardo Teixeira being paid a bribe for Nike to become Brazil’s shirt supplier, via marketing firm Traffic." Nike "has already denied any wrongdoing." Of the $28M being claimed from the defendants, Warner is being pursued for almost $4.5M, Blazer almost $5.4M and Teixeira more than $3.5M.
Former FIFA VP Jeffrey Webb is being pursued for just over $2M, "with the submission including an article from last month showing him hosting a lavish party while under house arrest in Georgia" (TELEGRAPH, 3/16).
ABUSE OF POWER: In London, Charles Sale wrote "legal sources close to FIFA are confident their move will be successful."
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said, "The convicted defendants abused the positions of trust they held at FIFA and other international football organizations and caused serious and lasting damage to FIFA, its member associations and the football community. The monies they pocketed belong to global football and were meant for the development and promotion of the game." In "the most damning admission yet" about the scale of FIFA's corruption culture, the report said, "It is now apparent that multiple members of FIFA ExCo abused their positions and sold their votes on multiple occasions" (DAILY MAIL, 3/16). Also in London, Owen Gibson wrote sources close to the process said that the legal claim was based not only on the two U.S. indictments but on FIFA’s internal investigation, which has been ongoing since the U.S. Department of Justice "swooped on Zurich in May" and alleged a "World Cup of fraud."
In "what will be viewed by many as an act of brazen chutzpah" given the extent to which the culture and practices engendered by the former President Sepp Blatter and those who sat around the exec committee table were "responsible for its demise," FIFA’s lawyers are making the claim under the Mandatory Restitution Act in the U.S. CONMEBOL and CONCACAF, "which has seen its past three presidents indicted, have launched similar lawsuits to try to recover funds paid and received as bribes on TV and marketing deals."
According to the claim, indicted FIFA execs racked up more than $28M in pay, "per diems, travel and other costs since 2004" (GUARDIAN, 3/16).
PLAYING THE VICTIM: In N.Y., Rebecca R. Ruiz wrote more valuable to FIFA than the money -- which in the case of court-ordered restitution often amounts to pennies on the dollar -- "is what fighting for it symbolizes, legal experts say." The claim "seeks to cement FIFA’s place as a victim in the eyes of both prosecutors and the public, and to telegraph the organization’s distance from generations of disgraced leaders, some ousted as recently as December."
Serina Vash, a former federal prosecutor and exec director of the
program on corporate compliance and enforcement at New York University’s
law school, said, "It’s very important for reputational rehabilitation."
Some question, however, "just how changed FIFA may be." It has yet to conclude an "ambitious" internal inquiry into the "endemic" corruption. Antonia M. Apps, a lawyer with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, said, "If the government thought money was going to be siphoned back to bad actors, it would probably fight giving it back" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/16). REUTERS' Homewood & Ingram wrote the report "did not mention the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments awarded to Russia and Qatar, a decision which has triggered a criminal investigation by Swiss authorities." U.S. authorities said that ex-officials who have pleaded guilty "have already agreed to pay" more than $190M in forfeiture. FIFA said,
"These dollars were meant to build football fields, not mansions and pools; to buy football kits, not jewelry and cars; and to fund youth player and coach development, not to underwrite lavish lifestyles for football and sports marketing executives" (REUTERS, 3/16). BLOOMBERG's Panja & Voreacos wrote by lodging its claim, FIFA "is pitting itself against the two regional bodies most damaged by the scandal:" CONCACAF, run by Warner, and CONMEBOL. CONCACAF attorney Samir Gandhi said, "CONCACAF views itself as a victim of a number of the offenses described in the
indictments and intends to seek restitution. The appropriate time will be closer to sentencing but typically those applications will not be ripe for a bit." CONMEBOL President Alejandro Dominguez said that the organization’s American
lawyers "also requested compensation" (BLOOMBERG, 3/16).
