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[Cornballer]

THE FBI VS. FIFA

The exclusive account of how a small band of federal agents and an outsized corrupt official brought down the sports world's biggest governing body.

"Took down" in their headline is a little strong for my tastes given that the corruption is ongoing and they're likely replacing Blatter, Blazer, etc... with more crooks and it doesn't appear that much has changed at FIFA beyond personnel for the moment. Nonetheless, this is a good look at some of the details behind the case. Much of this is already known, though there are some new pieces of information and it serves as a general summary of how the case came together. It's mostly about Blazer's role as an informant to the FBI. The What You Need to Know infographic has a lot of info at quick glance at the parties involved, as well.

THERE HAS NEVER been anything quite like the FBI's investigation into global soccer, which resulted in a series of high-profile arrests starting in May 2015. But so far, only the barest outline of the case has been made public. Wiretaps and classified debriefings remain under seal, as do the identities of confidential informants and the grand jury proceedings that have left 25 FIFA officials facing criminal charges. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has appeared at just two news conferences to discuss the case.

Nonetheless, ESPN has compiled the clearest picture yet of the government's infiltration of FIFA. Over the past six months, ESPN obtained internal FBI emails, scanned confidential Justice Department documents and interviewed dozens of top-level sources who worked inside FIFA, the U.S. Department of Justice and global law enforcement. What emerges is the inside story of how Blazer helped the FBI penetrate a syndicate that he had in part made massively corrupt.

Berryman scoured Blazer's accounts at Citibank, Bank of America, Barclays and Merrill Lynch for evidence of the embezzlement Warner had alleged. Because Blazer hadn't filed taxes since 2005, it was hard to determine how much he earned. Berryman got to work analyzing illicit payments Blazer had received over the years from shell accounts in the Caribbean and elsewhere.

Berryman discovered a $200,000 wire, dated March 1999, from an account held by a Uruguayan shell company to a Barclays Bank account that Blazer controlled in the Cayman Islands. Another wire to Blazer, this one for $600,000, originated from an account controlled by a Panamanian group. Berryman also discovered that Blazer had skimmed millions that FIFA had earmarked for other purposes. As Berryman tracked additional wires and deposits -- many of which would later be revealed as bribes for World Cup votes or kickbacks for Gold Cup marketing and TV rights -- he began to fill out the mosaic of Blazer's activities.

By the time Berryman was finished, it was clear that Blazer had embezzled much of the $20 million he had banked as general secretary over two decades.

THE FBI CASE caught a break from a Qatari billionaire. In the spring of 2011, Mohamed bin Hammam, a mannered construction baron and FIFA's vice president, announced his candidacy for FIFA's presidency, hoping to stop Blatter from winning a fifth term.

The road to bin Hammam's election ran through the Caribbean, where Jack Warner controlled 31 delegates, or 15 percent of the total FIFA votes. Three weeks before the election, Warner invited bin Hammam to a luncheon in Trinidad to address leaders from the Caribbean Football Union. When the talk finished, Warner directed delegates to a nearby room. There they each found a brown envelope containing $40,000 in cash, which investigators would later claim bin Hammam had brought on his private plane, part of the billionaire's slush fund to buy votes.

Blazer was in Miami on CONCACAF business when he learned that day of the apparently brazen bribery occurring in Trinidad. He hit the roof. Blazer's partnership with Warner had strained. Warner, who started his days at 5 a.m., despised the way Blazer sauntered into the office at noon after being out until the early morning at strip clubs. Blazer, in turn, resented the way Warner spent all his time playing politics in Trinidad.

One of the first calls Blazer made was to FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke. At nearly 3 a.m. in Zurich, Valcke, a polished Frenchman, listened drowsily as Blazer railed against Warner, calling him "arrogant" and "stupid" for exceeding the kind of corruption that everyone accepted, attempting something so obvious as a naked bribe.

According to two sources who were told about the call, Valcke agreed with Blazer that the incident could do untold damage to FIFA if it went public.

Much more via the link.


EDIT: Also, the Buzzfeed story on Blazer from a few years ago is worth a look, too: Mr. Ten Percent: The Man Who Built — And Bilked — American Soccer

 

[ActStriker]

Just got through reading this. Most of the new info is from the FBI side I think.

 

[Squirrel Killer]

Is that Monsier Creosote?

 

[Mindlog]

Good work FBI.
Do the Patriots next.

 

[SlimySnake]

The story of how George R.R Martin took down Fifa.

 

[obin_gam]

The should be a movie. Or a dox.

 

[smokeandmirrors]

The should be a movie. Or a dox.

Several part series on HBO. Too much stuff for just a movie.

 

[deadlast]

Is that Monsier Creosote?

Nah, That's Santa Claus. He's just not in his usual suit.

 

[Couleurs]

The story of how George R.R Martin took down Fifa.

Now we know why he still hasn't finished his damn book