Authorities in Zurich on Wednesday arrested several high-ranking FIFA officials on racketeering and corruption charges and will most likely extradite them to the US, The New York Times reported.
In an extensive statement, the US Department of Justice accused the officials of a "24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer."
The DOJ's indictment includes 14 defendants with racketeering, wire fraud, money-laundering conspiracies, and other offenses.
Swiss prosecutors also announced on Wednesday that they had opened criminal proceedings into the two next World Cups — the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Both tournaments will still take place as planned, officials said Wednesday in a news conference.
The Swiss attorney general has seized documents related to the case, according to a statement. The documents will be used in criminal proceedings in Switzerland and abroad.
The Swiss investigation is independent from the one by the US attorney's office that resulted in the arrest of the FIFA officials in Zurich. In the Swiss case, FIFA is considered the injured party, FIFA spokesman Walter de Gregorio said at a news conference.
"The timing may not be obviously the best but definitely FIFA welcomes this process and cooperates fully with the attorney general of Switzerland and the federal office of justice," Gregorio said. "In this case, FIFA is the damaged party. This leads to the fact that there were no searches within the offices of FIFA, the people of the federal attorney are here, we cooperate with them, we provide all the information requested by them, and this is for our own interest."
Gregorio noted that the president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, was not involved in the Swiss procedure.
The Times, citing anonymous law enforcement officials, said the US federal charges spanned two decades of misconduct in soccer's world governing body. Officials told The Times that the US investigation was ongoing and that Blatter had not been cleared of wrongdoing. He was not one of those arrested Wednesday.
Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images
FIFA officials are in Zurich for the congress where Blatter on Friday will face a challenge from Jordan's Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein in a presidential election for the organization. The election will go forward as planned, FIFA officials said in a news conference.
According to a statement released early Wednesday from the Federal Office of Justice in Switzerland, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District in New York is investigating several officials "on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kick-backs between the early 1990s and the present day."
That investigation involves schemes to pay FIFA officials and "other functionaries of FIFA sub-organizations more than $100 million."
The FOJ says that, in return, those various individuals and entities at the center of the investigation received "media, marketing, and sponsorship rights in connection with soccer tournaments in Latin America." The statement continues, saying "these crimes were agreed and prepared in the US, and payments were carried out via US banks."
American Chuck Blazer, a former top-ranking FIFA executive, was reportedly an informant for the FBI in the investigation, The New York Daily News reported in November.
Thomson ReutersThe FIFA headquarters in Zurich.
The Times reports that these FIFA executives were charged: Jeffrey Webb, Eugenio Figueredo, Jack Warner, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, José Maria Marin, and Nicolás Leoz. Sports marketing executives Alejandro Burzaco, Aaron Davidson, Hugo Jinkis, and Mariano Jinkis are also expected to be charged, along with José Margulies, who authorities say was an intermediary who facilitated illegal payments.
Times reporters Sam Borden and Michael Schmidt are in Zurich covering the arrests:
Questioning of detainees
The Zurich Cantonal Police will question the detainees today on behalf of the FOJ regarding the US request for their arrest.
A simplified procedure will apply for wanted persons who agree to their immediate extradition.
The FOJ can immediately approve their extradition to the US and order its execution. However, if a wanted person opposes their extradition, the FOJ will invite the US to submit a formal extradition request within the deadline of 40 days specified in the bilateral extradition treaty.
Here is the full FOJ statement:
BERN – By order of the Federal Office of Justice (FOJ), six soccer officials were arrested in Zurich today (Wednesday) and detained pending extradition. The US authorities suspect them of having received or paid bribes totaling in the USD millions.
The six soccer functionaries were arrested today in Zurich by the Zurich Cantonal Police. The FOJ’s arrest warrants were issued further to a request by the US authorities. The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York is investigating these individuals on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kick-backs between the early 1990s and the present day.
The bribery suspects – representatives of sports media and sports promotion firms – are alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to the soccer functionaries – delegates of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) and other functionaries of FIFA sub-organizations – totaling more than USD 100 million.
In return, it is believed that they received media, marketing, and sponsorship rights in connection with soccer tournaments in Latin America. According to the US request, these crimes were agreed and prepared in the US, and payments were carried out via US banks
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