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Leagues and Governing Bodies

Several FIFA, Marketing Officials Arrested For Corruption, But Sepp Blatter Not Among Them

Swiss authorities today "conducted an extraordinary early-morning operation" in Zurich to arrest several top FIFA and FIFA-related marketing officials, with plans to extradite them to the U.S. "on federal corruption charges," according to a front-page piece by Apuzzo, Schmidt, Rashbaum & Borden of the N.Y. TIMES. The U.S. Department of Justice indictment "names 14 people on charges including racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy." In addition to senior soccer officials, the indictment "also named sports-marketing executives" from the U.S. and South America who are accused of paying more than $150M in "bribes and kickbacks in exchange for media deals associated with major soccer tournaments." FIFA in a statement said that it "welcomes actions that can help contribute to rooting out any wrongdoing in football." The arrests were a "startling blow to FIFA, a multibillion-dollar organization that governs the world’s most popular sport but has been plagued by accusations of bribery for decades." The inquiry "is also a major threat" to FIFA President Sepp Blatter, "though he was not charged." FIFA Dir of Communications & Public Affairs Walter de Gregorio insisted that Blatter "was not involved in any alleged wrongdoing and that the election would not be disrupted." Law enforcement officials said that "much of the inquiry" involves CONCACAF, which "includes major countries" like the U.S. According to the indictment, several int'l soccer events "were tainted by bribes and kickbacks involving media and marketing rights," including World Cup qualifiers in the CONCACAF region, the CONCACAF Gold Cup, CONCACAF Champions League, Copa América and CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores club tournament. The indictment also "claims that bribes and kickbacks were found in connection" with the selection of South Africa as host country for the '10 World Cup (N.Y. TIMES, 5/27).

FIFA/MARKETING OFFICIALS CHARGED
NAME POSITION
Jeff Webb FIFA VP (Exec Committee member), CONCACAF President
Jack Warner Former FIFA VP (Exec Committee member), former CONCACAF President
Eugenio Figueredo FIFA VP (Exec Committee member), former CONMEBOL President
Eduardo Li Incoming FIFA Exec Committee member
Julio Rocha FIFA Development Officer, former Nicaragua Football Federation President
Costas Takkas Attaché to the CONCACAF President
Rafael Esquivel CONMEBOL Exec Committee member, Venezuela Football Federation President
Jose Maria Marin Former Brazilian Football Confederation President
Nicolas Leoz Former FIFA Exec Committee member, former CONMEBOL President
Alejandro Burzaco Argentine sports media exec
Aaron Davidson Traffic Sports USA President, NASL BOD Chair
Hugo Jinkis Full Play Group Controlling Principal
Mariano Jinkis Full Play Group Controlling Principal
Jose Margulies Valente Corp. Controlling Principal
   

ALL IN THE DETAILS: The N.Y. Times’ Michael Schmidt said the arrests "were a complete surprise" to FIFA ("Morning Joe," MSNBC, 5/27). In L.A., Kevin Baxter noted the investigation "goes back at least two decades" (LATIMES.com, 5/26). ESPN FC's Stephan Uersfeld notes it was "unclear if the probe was linked" to the '94 World Cup held in the U.S. (ESPNFC.com, 5/27). USA TODAY's Martin Rogers notes members of the FIFA Exec Committee "met to discuss how to proceed" just hours after the arrests (USATODAY.com, 5/27). The DOJ said that six individuals "have pleaded guilty." The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Viswanatha, Robinson & Matthews note the probe "seized electronic data and documents from FIFA’s head office in Zurich and said it would question 10 people who took part in the voting." Prince Ali Bin al-Hussein, the FIFA member from Jordan who is running against Blatter in Friday’s election, called it “a sad day for football.” Meanwhile, sources said that prosecutors and agents in the FBI’s N.Y. field office "have been investigating FIFA for years." One source said that investigators "reached a turning point in their probe" in '11 when former FIFA exec Chuck Blazer "began cooperating with them" (WSJ.com, 5/27). Traffic Sports USA, whose President Aaron Davidson was among those arrested, owns the NASL Carolina RailHawks and operates as CONCACAF's commercial partnership agency (THE DAILY). 

al-Hussein said the arrests make it a sad day for football
I FOUGHT THE LAW: In London, Ben Wright writes under the header, "FIFA Is About To Learn A Stern Lesson About The Vigour Of American Prosecution." The "whiff of corruption has hung around FIFA for years," but "most countries appeared powerless to do anything about it." However, Americans "have a deep-seated and historical abhorrence of white collar crime" (TELEGRAPH.co.uk, 5/27). In N.Y., Thompson & Vinton noted the arrests "will likely throw the election into turmoil and could affect Blatter’s chances to be elected, or if he is elected, to serve out his term." A source said, “Even if they can’t get Blatter on anything this time, just the hint of impending charges raises the question of how can you elect him" (NYDAILYNEWS.com, 5/26). In London, Matt Dickinson writes under the header, "Dramatic Dawn Arrests Could Be The Start Of FIFA's Great Cleanup." The "hope must now be" that law-enforcement agencies "keep on digging, and do not stop." Blatter "will not be able to pull his usual trick of blithely dismissing concerns as a bit of isolated trouble." Dickinson: "Not with policemen banging at the door." It was "always going to take the dramatic intervention of law-enforcement agencies; men with badges, warrants -- threats to comply, or else" (THETIMES.co.uk, 5/27). CBS' Charlie Rose opened the "CBS This Morning" broadcast by saying, "We begin with a bombshell in the world of soccer" (CBS, 5/27). ESPN's Jeremy Schaap said the language used by the DOJ in its indictments is the "classic language of describing a criminal syndicate, an organization that really exists in many ways to perpetuate a criminal conspiracy." Schaap: "There has been this global sense of frustration with FIFA for a long time and the feeling that no one could touch them. That clearly was addressed today. ... It seemed like the rest of the world was inadequate to the task of bringing these charges or even taking FIFA to account" (ESPN, 5/27). MSNBC’s Mark Halperin said, “It’s an embarrassment to the rest of the world that the United States did this, but it’s great because these people were corrupt” (“Morning Joe,” MSNBC, 5/27).

MORE QUESTIONS: ESPN FC's Uersfeld reports in a separate legal matter, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice "has announced that criminal proceedings have been opened" in connection with the '18 and '22 World Cups. All 10 members of the FIFA Exec Committee who "took part in the bidding process ... will be [questioned] as part of the investigation." The news "came just hours" after the arrests (ESPNFC.com, 5/27). In London, Naughton & Bonnici report FIFA has "ruled out" moving either the '18 or '22 World Cups following the announcement of the Swiss investigation (THETIMES.co.uk, 5/27).

WILL BLATTER SKATE? Fox Sports’ Alexi Lalas said despite the arrests, FIFA will not change “until Sepp Blatter is no longer a part of it.” Lalas: “Sepp Blatter is very, very good at deflecting. He’s very, very good, when these types of things happen, not having his hands dirty in any of this." Lalas: "Until enough voices are heard and until enough changes have happened, it’s going to be business as usual.” Lalas said what will be “interesting is how much are they going to peel this back,” because this “could impact all of the decisions that were made” in terms of future World Cup sites and broadcast rights. Lalas added, “It’s a matter of how much they want to go back and say, ‘Look, this corruption affected this decision, the corruption affected this contract that was done.’ They could peel it all the way back, and we could be looking at very different locations of World Cups and who’s involved with World Cups" ("Fox Sports Live," FS1, 5/27). CNBC's Geoff Cutmore noted while Blatter was not among those arrested, “no one is saying that he is off the hook or cleared,” and the “scale of this is growing all the time.” Cutmore said it was “astonishing” that Blatter did not appear at FIFA’s press conference this morning. Cutmore: "The head of communications can stand up there as much as he likes and say, ‘We’re the injured party and it doesn’t affect us,’ but quite clearly it does, and I would be surprised if they feel that they can just move ahead with business as usual, which is what he seems to be saying at this stage” (“Worldwide Exchange,” CNBC, 5/27).

POLL POSITION: REUTERS' Brian Homewood noted al-Hussein’s election team "has been in contact with the police after claiming it had been approached by an individual who said he could deliver 47 votes at Friday’s election." The election team also claimed that the alleged approach was "made in April and the individual also offered to provide 'what appeared to be illegally obtained' information relating to the financial activities" of Blatter. The individual "was not identified, although the campaign said he was a third party who was not part of FIFA nor connected" to any national soccer association. The matter "was referred to Quest, a UK-based corporate intelligence firm which was asked to contact the police." The campaign added that the votes offer "was rejected ... and FIFA's ethics committee was not informed" (REUTERS, 5/27).

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