Federal prosecutors leading investigations of corruption in int'l football "are to hold a joint news conference in FIFA's home city," according to Graham Dunbar of the AP. On Sept. 14 in Zurich, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and her counterpart from Switzerland, Michael Lauber, will give updates on their cases, Lauber's office said Tuesday. Swiss officials said in a statement that the news conference will explain the "status of the two criminal proceedings." Lynch is scheduled to visit Zurich for an annual conference of federal prosecutors which is being hosted this year by Lauber's department. Her American case "alleges widespread bribery, fraud, money laundering and racketeering in the award of hosting and broadcasting rights" for the World Cup and other int'l tournaments. The Swiss case focuses on "possible money laundering during the bidding contests for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, won by Russia and Qatar, respectively" (AP, 9/1).
PRESSURE MOUNTS ON TEIXEIRA: INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL's Andrew Warshaw reported a seven-bedroom mansion controlled by a company owned by the wife of disgraced former FIFA powerbroker Ricardo Teixeira has been sold for $9M, suggesting the Brazilian, "under investigation back home for allegedly accepting millions of dollars in bribes, is no longer taking refuge" in the U.S. The 15-year-old property was reportedly purchased in '12 for $7.425M in cash from tennis player Anna Kournikova, who sold it to Ochab Properties, run by Teixeira's wife, Ana Carolina Wigand Rodrigues. Teixeira has "not been implicated" in the ongoing U.S. probe into "widespread corruption by FIFA officials." But the one-time president of the Brazilian Football Federation's former No. 2 and successor, José Maria Marin, was among those detained in Zurich in May (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 9/1). REUTERS' Julian Linden reported ahead of what "has been described as the biggest match" in its history, Guam FA President Richard Lai said that his team's overnight success "has been a decade in the making." The Pacific island nation "sits perched at the top of Asia's Group D, five points clear of the side they will meet on Thursday, Iran." The last time the two nations met, Guam was trounced 19-0. Lai said, "We were humiliated, mocked, people would laugh at us in the stands as every goal went in and as each one did it was like someone put a knife into my heart" (REUTERS, 9/1).
