Global soccer corruption case deeply rooted in USA – USA TODAY
Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
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Swiss prosecutors opened criminal proceedings into FIFA’s awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, after seven soccer officials were arrested pending extradition to the U.S. in a separate probe of “rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted”corruption. (Ma
AP
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department’s corruption inquiry into organized soccer has deep roots in the USA. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday that suspects in the $150 million bribery scheme met in this country often to plan their illicit activities and used U.S. banking institutions and domestic wire transfers to distribute giant bribe payments.
Describing the alleged wrongdoing as “rampant, systemic,” Lynch said the actions spanned two generations of soccer officials abroad and in the USA who “abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.”
“They planned to profit from their scheme, in large part, through promotional efforts directed at the growing U.S. market for soccer,” Lynch said.
The attorney general, a month into her term as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, specifically highlighted the operation of the U.S.-based Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, or CONCACAF, a powerful subsidiary of soccer’s international governing body FIFA, whose member countries include the USA. The group’s top leaders, according to court documents, played major roles in soliciting and accepting bribes related to the selection of host nations for the 1998 and 2010 World Cup tournaments.
Federal agents searched CONCACAF’s Miami headquarters Wednesday morning as Lynch announced the sweeping 47-count indictment that rocked the sports world.
Swiss authorities arrested seven of the suspects at a Zurich hotel Wednesday where they were gathered to attend FIFA meetings.
“CONCACAF is plainly an organization in crisis, and we have already reached out to its representatives this morning to ensure that the people of integrity who work there know that we stand ready to work with them to reform their practices in the wake of the actions we are taking today,” Lynch said.
The federal indictment represents perhaps the deepest examination of global sporting institutions by U.S. authorities since a Justice Department bribery investigation into the International Olympic Committee’s decision to award the 2002 Winter Games to Salt Lake City.
Of the 14 defendants named Wednesday, three are charged as U.S. citizens or legal residents. Two other U.S. citizens and a U.S.-based corporation, Traffic Sports USA, pleaded guilty to crimes ranging from wire fraud and money laundering to income tax evasion and obstruction of justice. Those guilty pleas had been sealed until Wednesday when the original charges were made public.
Federal investigators traced the beginnings of the alleged illegal enterprise back nearly 25 years to the rising fortunes of Jack Warner, 72, a legal resident of the USA and citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, who held influential positions with FIFA and was a longtime president of CONCACAF, retiring in 2011.
In the early 1990s, according to court documents, “Warner … began to leverage his influence and exploit his official positions for personal gain.”
“Among other things, Warner began to solicit and accept bribes in connection with his official duties,” the court documents state. Those activities, while he was a member of the FIFA executive committee, related to the selection of the host countries for the 1998 and 2010 World Cup tournaments.
Federal prosecutors outlined an extraordinary scenario they said took place before the selection in 2010 of South Africa as the World Cup host: Warner allegedly entertained competing bribes in exchange for his vote and that of a co-conspirator.
In 2004, according to court documents, an unidentified member of the Moroccan bid committee offered to pay Warner $1 million for his vote. Later, Warner allegedly accepted a $10 million offer from a group that included members of the South African government and the South African bid committee, agreeing to provide $1 million of the payment to a co-conspirator.
When it was learned that the South African group was unable to raise the payment from government funds, according to court documents, three separate payments totaling $10 million were diverted to an account controlled by Warner from FIFA funds designated to support the World Cup in South Africa.
In early 2008, prosecutors allege, the payments were routed from a FIFA account in Switzerland to a Bank of America account in New York. Late the same year, Warner allegedly made three wire transfers totaling $750,000 to the co-conspirator, $250,000 short of his alleged deal to share $1 million of the $10 million bribe payment.
In the “early 2000s,” the court documents say, bundles of U.S. currency were arranged in “$10,000 stacks” in a Paris hotel room, ready for pickup by a Warner associate.
Neither Warner nor his representatives could be reached for comment Wednesday. In a statement obtained by the Associated Press, Warner, a member of the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament, said he is “innocent of any charges.”
“I have been afforded no due process, and I have not even been questioned in this matter,” he said. “I have walked away from the politics of world football to immerse myself in the improvement of lives in this country where I shall, God willing, die.”
Two of Warner’s sons, identified by federal authorities as Daryll and Daryan Warner, were among those who pleaded guilty.
Jack Warner’s activities allegedly were part of a series of transactions routinely involving six- and seven-figure payments provided to soccer officials for their cooperation on venue votes, along with media and marketing rights over years outlined in court documents.
“The defendants fostered a culture of corruption and greed that created an uneven playing field for the biggest sport in the world,” FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday. “Undisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks and bribes became a way of doing business at FIFA.”
Kelly Currie, the acting U.S. attorney in Brooklyn who helped manage the case, said the investigation remains active.
“After decades of what the indictment alleges to be brazen corruption, organized international soccer needs a new start — a new chance for its governing institutions to provide honest oversight and support of a sport that is beloved across the world, increasingly so here in the United States,” Currie said. “Let me be clear: This indictment is not the final chapter in our investigation.”
FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter described the enforcement actions taken by the United States, along with Swiss authorities, as “a difficult time for football, the fans and for FIFA as an organization.”
“As unfortunate as these events are, it should be clear that we welcome the actions and the investigations by the U.S. and Swiss authorities and believe that it will help to reinforce measures that FIFA has already taken to root out any wrongdoing in football,” said Blatter, who was not named in the criminal actions.
Blatter suggested the charges announced Wednesday were the result of information provided to investigators last year by FIFA officials.
“Let me be clear, such misconduct has no place in football,” he said, “and we will ensure that those who engage in it are put out of the game.”
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