Soccer Officials Arrested in Corruption Scandal
May 28, 2015
Yesterday, in a dawn raid, Swiss police arrested officials from soccer’s world governing body, the Federation Internationale de Football Association, or FIFA (fee fuh). Seven of the officials were arrested at a five-star Swiss hotel, where they were staying before FIFA’s annual congress, which opened in Zurich this morning. Those arrested and indicted were Jose Maria Marin of Brazil, Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands, Eduardo Li of Costa Rica, Julio Rocha of Nicaragua, Eugenio Figueredo of Uruguay, Costas Takkas of the United Kingdom, and Rafael Esquivel of Venezuela. Seven other officials named in the 161-page indictment were not present at the hotel.
The indictment stemmed from an investigation into corruption led by the U.S. Department of Justice. Attorney General Loretta Lynch began work on the investigation long before she was chosen for her current position. At a news conference yesterday, she stated that FIFA had been involved in “rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted” corruption.
At a news conference on May 27, 2015, U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announces an indictment against nine officials of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and five corporate executives for racketeering, conspiracy, and corruption. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
The indictment claims that high-level FIFA officials accepted bribes in order to influence where major tournament games would be held. For example, one section states that South African soccer officials paid $10 million to U.S. FIFA executives to obtain the 2010 FIFA World Cup games for South Africa. U.S. executives indicted are said to have collected about $150 million in graft in the period since 1991.
At tomorrow’s meeting, FIFA President Sepp Blatter is running for reelection. He has held the presidency of FIFA for 17 years. In a press conference today, Blatter denied responsibility for the corruption that has been rife in his organization. Soccer insiders, however, claimed a culture lacking in transparency had at least contributed to FIFA’s problems. Allegations of bribery have also been raised concerning winning bids that went to Qatar and Russia for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup Games, respectively. Blatter is running against Prince Ali bin Al-Hussein of Jordan and is expected to win another term as president.
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