FIFA Officials Arrested
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/27/sports/soccer/fifa-officials-face-corruption-charges-in-us.html'>http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/27/sports/soccer/fifa-officials-face-corruption-charges-in-us.html</a></p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote"><br><p><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size:16px;">Swiss authorities conducted an extraordinary early-morning operation here Wednesday to arrest several top soccer officials and extradite them to the United States on federal corruption charges.</span></p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote"><br><p><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size:16px;">The charges allege widespread corruption in FIFA over the past two decades, involving bids for World Cups as well as marketing and broadcast deals, according to three law enforcement officials with direct knowledge of the case. The charges include wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering, and officials said they targeted members of FIFA’s powerful executive committee, which wields enormous power and does its business largely in secret.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size:16px;">The inquiry is also a major threat to Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s longtime president who is generally recognized as the most powerful person in sports, though he was not charged. An election, seemingly pre-ordained to give him a fifth term as president, is scheduled for Friday.</span></p>
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<div><span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size:16px;">Prosecutors planned to unseal an indictment against more than 10 officials, not all of whom are in Zurich, law enforcement officials said. Among them are Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands, a vice president of the executive committee; Eugenio Figueredo of Uruguay, who is also an executive committee vice president and until recently was the president of South America’s soccer association; and Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago, a former member of the executive committee who has been accused of numerous ethical violations.</span></div>
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<p>Hopefully some will squeal and they'll nab Blatter. The new US Attorney Loretta Lynch supervised the FIFA investigation, and the F.B.I. Director and she are expected to hold a news conference on Wednesday in New York. </p> -
<p>Hell hath no fury like a USA scorned</p>
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<p>Haven't got the head gangster though, but it's about time something was done about this cesspool of an organisation. </p> -
<p>Friday (Swiss time) is gonna be fun.</p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mariner4life" data-cid="492760" data-time="1432709288"><p>Hell hath no fury like a USA scorned<br>
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Haven't got the head gangster though, but it's about time something was done about this cesspool of an organisation.<br></p></blockquote>The U.S. Justice organisation is relentless. Just ask Lance Armstrong -
Fuckin finally.
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Nepia" data-cid="492883" data-time="1432728969"><p>
So the Swiss roll over for fraud but deny extradition of a convicted rapist.</p></blockquote>
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Que? -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Tim" data-cid="492898" data-time="1432730022">
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<p>The US fucked up the paper work on that.</p>
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<p>Nah (they didn't send confidential testimony rather than fuck up any paperwork - testimony that was irrelevant to the extradition case), the Swiss weaseled out of it - likely due to pressure from the French.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Nepia" data-cid="492907" data-time="1432730929">
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<p>Nah (they didn't send confidential testimony rather than fuck up any paperwork - testimony that was irrelevant to the extradition case), the Swiss weaseled out of it - likely due to pressure from the French.</p>
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<p>Aha.</p>
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<p>Looks like the World Cup allocations are being investigated too:</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.economist.com/news/business-and-finance/21652222-officials-world-footballs-governing-body-have-been-arrested-american-instigation'>http://www.economist.com/news/business-and-finance/21652222-officials-world-footballs-governing-body-have-been-arrested-american-instigation</a></p>
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">America’s actions could force other countries to investigate FIFA more bravely. Indeed, that may already be happening. In what appears to be a separate case, Swiss officers raided FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich, seized electronic records and said they had opened criminal proceedings against “persons unknown on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and of money laundering in connection with the allocation of the 2018 and 2022 football World Cupsâ€. According to reports, 10 FIFA members who participated in the vote for those competitions are to be questioned by police.
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<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Gary" data-cid="492921" data-time="1432743569">
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<p>Didn't Demsey (?) the old fella voting for Oceania say he was offered bribes etc that's why he didn't vote giving the work cup to Germany instead of Voting for South Africa as he was instructed.</p>
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<p>It was one of those where it was never clear if he was dirty, overly clean, or just senile. With most of the hard money on senile....</p> -
<p>Watching the press conference you may have wondered "Will he go there, will he drop <em>that</em> pun on them?" Hell yeah motherfucker.</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://vine.co/v/eb5BKVVjeDA'>https://vine.co/v/eb5BKVVjeDA</a></p> -
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<p>WARNER further stated that a representative of one of the CFU member associations had contacted CONCACAF offices in New York to advise Co-Conspirator #1 of the payments. WARNER was angry that the representative had done this. WARNER stated, “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.â€</p>
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Haha. Some entertaining extracts in the Indictment Report.</p>
<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://images.businessweek.com/bloomberg/pdfs/FIFAindictment.pdf'>http://images.businessweek.com/bloomberg/pdfs/FIFAindictment.pdf</a> if anyone has too much time on their hands. </p>
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<p>Can't wait for Blatter & Co to be nailed under RICO.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Nepia" data-cid="492897" data-time="1432729848">
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<p>Polanski.</p>
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<p>While I agree that Polanski is a piece of shit, rapist scumbag, France and Switzerland are two different countries.
Plus, the problem there is that Polanski is a French national and most countries don't extradite their own nationals.</p>
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<p>Anyway, Blatter's been informed he can't leave Switzerland and Russia have thrown around some bullshit accusations. I guess they see their World Cup falling through their fingers, let's hope it does.</p> -
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="Unco" data-cid="492931" data-time="1432754516">
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<p>While I agree that Polanski is a piece of shit, rapist scumbag, France and Switzerland are two different countries. Plus, the problem there is that Polanski is a French national and most countries don't extradite their own nationals.</p>
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<p>Anyway, Blatter's been informed he can't leave Switzerland and Russia have thrown around some bullshit accusations. I guess they see their World Cup falling through their fingers, let's hope it does.</p>
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<p>Polanski was arrested in Switzerland.</p> -
<p>Looks like Nike have been snared:</p>
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<p><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://qz.com/413556/nike-is-cooperating-with-investigators-in-a-30m-case-of-alleged-bribery-to-sponsor-brazils-national-team/'>Nike is cooperating with investigators in a $30m case of alleged bribery to sponsor Brazil’s national team</a></p>
