FIFA Corruption Scandal

[Political Junky]

This is huge, folks. The level of payoffs boggles the mind.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/s...ion-charges-blatter-isnt-among-them.html?_r=0

United States law enforcement officials declared in forceful terms on Wednesday that their broad investigation of FIFA had only begun and pledged to rid the international soccer organization of systemic corruption.
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[Katzndogz]

That's Loretta Lynch in action. Going after the really dangerous stuff.

 

[Political Junky]

That's Loretta Lynch in action. Going after the really dangerous stuff.

Of course the Right supports corruption and hiding $Billions offshore.

 

[Wyatt earp]

It's funny that it took the USA the ones to bring them down. Is the whole world corrupt?

 

[FJO]

FIFA is the organization that calls the rules of soccer "LAW".

The same organization whose one of the first so-called "laws" is that the game consists of two equal halves yet infected the sports world with the utterly idiotic idea of shootouts where ONE player from each team faces another and the idea of TEAM be damned.

The organization that encourages playacting of deadly injuries but believes in miracles of sudden recoveries therefrom once the referee's call appears to go the "wrong" way.

The organization that can not seem to realize that referees should attend to the rules (pardon me, "LAWS" ) of the game rather than being time keepers.

The organization which over the time has proven to be the undisputed champion of hypocrisy

No surprise.

 

[strollingbones]

when you have the power to give people millions in profit they will pay.....but the amounts were amazing.....drug cartel amounts dont go that high

 

[Merchant_of_Meh]

As a pretty avid soccer fan, this is bittersweet stuff. I've been following the beautiful game for roughly 15 years now and I've known it's been corrupt from the very start. Not one country or FA has had the balls to stand up to FIFA primarily because that would mean FIFA would just kick them out and cancel their league. Given the amount of money that exchanges hands between the US and FIFA, that was never going to happen with us so it makes sense that we're the ones to take that stand and do what others can't or won't do.

This is sad because I know this makes this sport look bad, but it's probably the best thing to happen to it in decades as well as this is likely going to lead to some major changes within and outside of FIFA. It's already beginning.

Of course, all of this is for naught if they don't get the man at the top: Sepp Blatter. Taking away the '18 and '22 cups from Russia and Qatar would be just as good as well.

 

[Mad Scientist]

It's probably safer for the Attorney General to go after Futbolers than Bankers.

 

[Steinlight]

How much taxpayer money is being wasted going after officials overseas in a sport Americans don't even care about?

 

[blastoff]

Who cares? Soccer's a third world communist sport anyway so no surprises the organization is crooked to the core.

 

[waltky]

Ex-FIFA President Sepp Blatter receives $12M bonus for 2014 World Cup...

FIFA says Sepp Blatter, 2 other top officials gave themselves $80 million in bonus money over 5 years
Friday, June 3, 2016 — FIFA’s top officials Sepp Blatter, Jerome Valcke and Markus Kattner awarded themselves pay rises and World Cup bonuses totaling $80 million over their last five years in office.

Some of the contracted payments appear to break Swiss law, and evidence will be given to American and Swiss federal prosecutors who are investigating corruption implicating the world soccer body, lawyers for FIFA said Friday. “The evidence appears to reveal a coordinated effort by three former top officials of FIFA to enrich themselves through annual salary increases, World Cup bonuses and other incentives totaling more than 79 million Swiss francs — in just the last five years,” said Bill Burck of Quinn Emanuel, the U.S. law firm retained by FIFA during its corruption crisis. FIFA revealed details of the contracts of its former president Blatter, fired former secretary general Valcke and fired finance director Kattner one day after police raided FIFA to seize evidence for the Swiss investigation.

Blatter got a 12 million Swiss francs ($12 million) bonus after the successful 2014 World Cup in Brazil and would have been due another 12 million Swiss francs for completing his 2015-19 presidential term. The secretly agreed bonuses were significantly more than Blatter’s base salary — 3 million Swiss francs ($3 million) in 2015 — which was published by FIFA in March. Valcke got a $2 million base salary in 2015 before being fired, but got a $10 million World Cup bonus for 2014 and was due $11 million from the 2018 tournament in Russia. The police raid Thursday included searches in the office of Kattner who was fired last week. “Documents and electronic data were seized and will now be examined to determine their relevance to the ongoing proceedings,” the Swiss federal prosecution office said Friday.

Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber opened criminal proceedings against Blatter last September, and against Valcke in March. Both are suspected of criminal mismanagement of FIFA money. Blatter and Valcke deny wrongdoing but were banned for six and 12 years, respectively, by FIFA’s ethics committee. No criminal proceedings have yet been opened against Kattner. “Additionally, FIFA will refer the matter of these contracts and payments to the Ethics Committee for its review,” FIFA said in a statement. Any ethics investigation could affect two senior officials at the heart of FIFA’s financial operation. Finance committee chairman Issa Hayatou, the interim FIFA president while Blatter was suspended, and former audit panel chairman Domenico Scala both approved at least one of the contracts revealed Friday.

Three weeks after new FIFA President Gianni Infantino claimed that “the crisis is over,” the turmoil rocking soccer’s world governing body continues. Infantino has been criticized for a breakdown in his relationship with Scala, who resigned on May 14. The FIFA president privately described as “insulting” a salary offer from Scala, reported as $2 million without bonuses. Since Kattner’s firing on May 23, German language newspapers have been fed a series of leaked minutes from meetings and FIFA emails which sought to turn scrutiny on Infantino. Elected four months ago to replace Blatter, Infantino pledged reform and a changed culture at FIFA was expected to face resistance from insiders. The 45-year-old Swiss official also arrived with a reputation as a critic of FIFA during seven years as secretary general of European soccer body UEFA.

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