FIFA: The Allegations
Last week federal prosecutors alleged that “two generations of soccer officials” used partnerships with sports marketing executives to solicit $150 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for a number of favors, including support for sites of FIFA World Cup events. The federal indictment charged 14 defendants – nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives – with racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering, the three types of crimes connected to their self-enrichment scheme.
The charges can be explained as follows: Racketeering concerns fraudulent moneymaking schemes, such as bribery and kickbacks. The Justice Department contends that the bribery dated back to 1991 and netted approximately $150 million. The largest of the allegations was that of a $10 million bribe accepted by FIFA vice president Jack Warner to ensure South Africa as the host country of the 2010 World Cup. Wire fraud is similar to racketeering, and involves an illegitimate scheme to defraud others using wire communications. The Justice Department claims that “FIFA wired billions of dollars from its accounts in the United States and throughout the world via a correspondent account at the U.S. branch of a major Swiss financial institution.” The final allegation of criminal conduct is money laundering, and usually involves moving money obtained through illegitimate means into what appears as legitimate business. Here, the Justice Department contends that FIFA officials aggressively “engaged in conduct designed to prevent the detection of their illegal activities [and] concealed the location and ownership of proceeds of those activities.”
This case would appear to be on solid footing, as the Justice Department has secured guilty pleas from four other individuals and two corporations tied to the conspiracy. However, getting the 14 defendants to face trial in the United States will be a challenge in its own right. While just last week Sepp Blatter was reelected as FIFA president, the coming years should help to reshape the landscape of the international football association.
Click here for a more detailed piece by SI’s Michael McCann.