FIFA officials arrested in dawn raid

Today in the Guardian:

Jack Warner plays down corruption allegations.

David Conn

Wednesday 27 May 2015 22.17 BST Last modified on Thursday 28 May 201500.20 BST



The case against Jack Warner

The US district court alleges massive corruption by Warner within its prosecution of 14 people, including serving and former high-ranking Fifa officials and sports marketing company executives alleged to have paid bribes.

As president from 1990 of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) and a Fifa executive committee (exco) member, Warner from the early 1990s “began to leverage his influence and exploit his official positions for personal gain”, the indictment alleges. His demand for and receipt of bribes, the authorities allege, was a key part of a 24-year racketeering and bribery conspiracy, dating from 1991 to 2015, which led to “endemic corruption” of Fifa itself.


Most extraordinary in a 164-page indictment is an alleged $10m payment transferred by Fifa to Caribbean Football Union (CFU) accounts that Warner controlled, in return for Warner, Chuck Blazer and an unnamed third Fifa exco “conspirator” voting for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup. The indictment alleges the South African government initially offered to make this payment to the CFU, with a stated purpose to “support the African diaspora”.

From this $10m, Warner is alleged to have agreed to pay $1m to Blazer – who, according to the US Department of Justice, has pleaded guilty to this and a series of other financial frauds and crimes.

Ultimately, the South African government is said to have been unable to pay the $10m, so in early 2008, four years after the offer was made, the money is alleged to have been paid by Fifa. Three payments are itemised: for $616,000, then $1.6m, then the balance, $7.784m, wired from a Fifa account in Switzerland to CFU and Concacaf Bank of America accounts controlled by Warner.

The indictment alleges: “Soon after receiving these wire transfers, the defendant Jack Warner caused a substantial portion of the funds to be diverted for his personal use,” which included laundering the money through intermediaries.

Warner is accused of agreeing to pay Blazer’s $1m share in instalments “as he had already spent it”. In the event, he paid Blazer $750,000, in three instalments between 2008 and 2011, allegations to which Blazer is said to have pleaded guilty.

The indictment also charges Warner over the infamous payments of $40,000 packs of cash to Caribbean delegates in 2011 by Mohamed bin Hammam, who was challenging Sepp Blatter for the Fifa presidency. Warner, discovering that one official had called Blazer at Concacaf to tell him about the payments, is alleged to have become angry and said: “There are some people here who think they are more pious than thou. If you’re pious, open a church, friends. Our business is our business.”

Warner, whose sons Daryll and Daryan have pleaded guilty to separate charges, has insisted he is innocent and has not been questioned in relation to the indictment.

The case against Jeffrey Webb

Webb, based in the Cayman Islands, became Concacaf president, a Fifa vice-president and exco member in May 2012, after Warner resigned following the scandal over the $40,000 payments.

Webb has been seen as a clean-up figure and potential successor to Sepp Blatter for the Fifa presidency but the US indictment accuses him of brazen corruption, being paid bribes that went into building a swimming pool at his house. The bribes are alleged to have been paid by the sports marketing company Traffic USA, in return for being awarded TV and marketing rights for the Caribbean countries’ qualifying matches in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Webb is said to have wanted a $3m bribe in return for ensuring the CFU did that deal with Traffic. The indictment alleges Aaron Davidson, the president of Traffic Sports USA, another of the 14 men charged, knew about the bribe.

The $3m payment is alleged to have been arranged with another of the defendants, Costas Takkas, a UK citizen and the general secretary of the Cayman Islands Football Association, who is described as a close associate of Webb. Takkas is said to have been paid by instalments into various accounts, including in the Cayman Islands, intended it is alleged, “to conceal the fact the defendant Jeffrey Webb was the beneficiary of the payment”.

Takkas is accused of wiring some of the money to an account of his in Miami. Then, the indictment alleges: “Takkas subsequently transferred the funds to an account in the name of a swimming pool builder at United Community Bank in Blairsville, Georgia [USA], for the benefit of the defendant Jeffrey Webb, who was having a pool built at his residence.”

Webb is understood to have been arrested by Swiss authorities in Zurich for extradition to the US, where authorities have stressed defendants are innocent until proven guilty in court.

The case against Chuck Blazer

Blazer, the Concacaf general secretary for 21 years between 1990 and 2011, is said to have pleaded guilty in 2013 to 10 counts including racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, income tax evasion from 2005-2010, and failure to file reports of his foreign bank accounts. The Department of Justice said he faces a maximum 20 years’ incarceration in a US prison for the conspiracies, 10 for the failure to declare his foreign bank accounts, and five years for the tax evasion charges.

Blazer was accused of soliciting a bribe for Warner as long ago as 1992, from the bid committee seeking to have Morocco selected as the host for the 1998 World Cup. Warner is said to have accepted the offer of a bribe in return for voting for Morocco, and Blazer chased it up for him. The payment was ultimately made, the indictment says, but in fact Fifa’s exco voted for France to host the 1998 tournament.

Blazer is said to have also pleaded guilty to receiving $750,000 from Jack Warner, part of Blazer’s agreed $1m share of the $10m paid to Warner’s accounts by Fifa itself, after Warner agreed to vote for South Africa to host the 2010 World Cup.



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I'm not a fan of the big-eared one, but his view is spot-on here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32902699

 

as we speak the corrupt bastards are voting for Blatter....

 

It's frankly unbelievable. All I'd do is get the English, German, Italian, Brazilian FA's (etc) together and create IFA (English-sounding International Football Association). Then I'd pull out of the World Cups and set up a "rival tournament" called Coup De Monde (just to be pedantic) which starts in 2018. In a proper country.

Then I'd say to all the other minnows who kept Blatter in - ok, guys, you no longer get to play us unless you denounce yourself from "FIFA" and join, by application, "IFA". It would take, I reckon, about a fortnight to make FIFA utterly redundant. Prince Ali has enough money to make it happen by tomorrow lunchtime.

 

I don't know about the voters, but I'm getting hypnotised by this funky drumming music.

What was I doing here. Can't remember. Just hope that nice Mr Blatter wins.....

 

Is Trev running this ballot?

 

Blatter back in power after Prince Ali withdraws from 2nd round ballot. Now let all the EUFA clubs pull out of FIFA and see how they get on and hope the authorities now go after the biggest crook of the organization... Sepp Blatter and all ther bungs paid to ensure Russia & Qatar got the World Cups.

 

they should make all votes public and then the FBI will have a list of who to investigate.
the Africa countries apparently had 57 votes and Europe less than 50.
Most Africa countries are corrupt and have tin pot dictators/warlords at the helm these days so it irks that most of Africa voted for Blatter as they clearly wanted the gravy train of bungs to continue.
Everyone can see it but it is left to happen.
I agree that an alternative federation should be set up.
Most of the world money is in Europe anyway so the rest of the world will soon kick FIFA in to touch and jump on board.
The problem we have is... UEFA. Platini apparently is a big supporter of the Swiss bastard so he probably has his nose in the trough too.

 

Blatter's strategy of holding Africa and South America and advancing from there is basically how I play Risk.

 

No he isn't! Platini asked the fcker to resign!!

 

He then said he would ask the Uefa members if they wanted to consider withdrawal from the world cup... But made a point of saying he didn't want that.
He needs to find some balls.
He also said he is a friend.

 

Football and these governing bodies are a fantastic example of all that's wrong. The many (i.e., each member state) far outweigh the few in power. It's like anything. Yet somehow, ridiculously, nothing changes. And I daresay it's because, ultimately, there's no individual benefit in it. If McDonald's, Visa, Budweiser all stood waving dollar bills shouting "come and form a new organisation, we'll pay LOADSAMONEY!!!" we'd have a new federation within the hour.

 

So nothing to do with you lot running an organised crime syndicate then you senile old bastards?

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My lawyers have advised me to make no comment.

 

How is Zurich at this time of year, or can't you say in case you incriminate yourself....

 

No, I am able to speak freely.

My name is Sebb's Campaign Manager. I was born outside of Palermo. I live -- uh -- in an army barracks with the FBI guys.

I -- I -- I never know no Sebb Blatter.I got my own family, I don't know nothin' about that.. Oh -- I was in the Olive Oil business with his father but that was a long time ago that's all. Look the FBI guys promised me a deal. So I made up a lot of stuff about Sebb 'cause that's what they wanted -- but it was all lies -- uh -- everything. And I kept saying -- Sebb did this and Sebb did that -- .uh -- so I said yea sure, why not.