U.S. Attorney General Predicts More Charges in FIFA Case
|
Version 0 of 1. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said Monday that the United States’ crackdown on corruption in global soccer was expanding, with new charges expected in the coming months. Ms. Lynch made the comments in Switzerland, not far from the headquarters of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, at the start of a week in which the FIFA investigation will take center stage in Europe. Law enforcement officials from around the world are congregating for conferences in Zurich and Amsterdam to hear how the case came together and how it might unfold. “We anticipate pursuing additional charges against individuals and entities,” Ms. Lynch said Monday of the United States’ inquiry, a coordinated effort among the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service. Ms. Lynch spoke in a joint appearance with Michael Lauber, the Swiss attorney general, who is leading a parallel investigation of corruption in FIFA. Their news conference took place at the Renaissance Zurich Tower Hotel, two miles from the luxury hotel where seven top soccer officials were handcuffed at dawn in May in a wave of arrests that have left FIFA in turmoil. Closing with a warning “to anyone who seeks to live in the past and to return soccer to the days of corruption and bribery, cronyism and patronage,” Ms. Lynch said, “You are on the wrong side of progress.” Swiss investigators, eager to show that they are just as vigilantly policing an organization headquartered in their country, announced developments in their own inquiry. Mr. Lauber said the Swiss authorities had seized properties in the Alps and identified 121 bank accounts in connection with the case. He called the Swiss financial intelligence unit’s expertise particularly helpful to the investigation, as the I.R.S.’s has been to the United States. “However, this positive input comes with a high price,” Mr. Lauber said, calling the process of reviewing individual bank transactions time-consuming and adding that it was too soon to estimate the value of frozen assets. “This investigation will take much more than the legendary 90 minutes,” he said. In their investigation, Swiss prosecutors are focused on allegations of bribery related to the bidding for the next two World Cups, which were awarded to Russia for 2018 and to Qatar for 2022. The United States’ case centers on bribery and kickback schemes related to the sale of media and marketing rights, exceeding $150 million over 24 years. Since the arrests in May, little information has been released about the investigations, which have prompted several other countries whose nationals have been charged to open their own inquiries; those countries include Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago. In May, Kelly T. Currie, the acting United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, whose office brought the case, called the 47-count indictment unsealed that month “the beginning of our work, not the end.” Citing their continuing inquiries, the F.B.I. and the I.R.S. declined to comment Monday. Ms. Lynch was in Zurich on Monday to participate in a conference held by the International Association of Prosecutors, whose main theme this year is international cooperation. Mr. Lauber, who led the news conference, said he had invited Ms. Lynch to Zurich, giving his country’s investigation a shared spotlight with that of the United States, which opened its case in 2011, before Swiss prosecutors did. Discussion of the FIFA case this week will extend beyond Monday, and beyond Switzerland. In Amsterdam on Thursday, Richard Weber, the chief of criminal investigations at the I.R.S., will deliver the keynote speech at an international tax conference. Hundreds of law enforcement officials from dozens of countries are expected to attend the conference, whose theme of international tax crime is pegged to the FIFA investigation. In his speech, Mr. Weber is expected to discuss international corruption, cooperation and the role of banks in investigations like the FIFA case. Mr. Weber’s I.R.S. unit, working with F.B.I. agents in New York, is credited with having helped break open the case with its investigation of Chuck Blazer, a former United States soccer official who did not file personal income tax returns. In 2013, Mr. Blazer secretly pleaded guilty to tax and corruption charges, providing key cooperation that helped the United States charge 17 other men. Three of them have pleaded guilty, and three others have been arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn, having pleaded not guilty as cases against them proceed. The rest remain abroad, and some are contesting extradition. Meanwhile, FIFA’s leadership in Zurich has remained intact. Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, and his deputy, Jérôme Valcke, have said they plan to stay in their positions until February, when the organization’s 209 member countries are due to gather in Switzerland — as they last had in May, when the arrests took place — to elect a new leader. Before then, the organization’s executive committee, a smaller group of 24, will meet this month, with officials from countries including the United States expected to attend. |