Six football officials – including FIFA Vice-President Jeffrey Webb – were arrested at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, and are being held over corruption charges that include money laundering, racketeering and wire fraud. They have been detained and are pending extradition.
Incumbent FIFA President Sepp Blatter, seeking a fifth term, is not believed to be one of those charged by the plain-clothed officers who took the room keys from the reception of the hotel before heading to their rooms. The operation is said to have been carried out peacefully.
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) released a statement on Wednesday that says that U.S. authorities suspected the officials of bribe-taking worth millions of dollars since the early Nineties:
“The bribery suspects — representatives of sports media and sports promotion firms — are alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to the soccer functionaries (FIFA delegates) and other functionaries of FIFA sub-organizations – totaling more than USD 100 million.
In return, it is believed that they received media, marketing, and sponsorship rights in connection with soccer tournaments in Latin America.”
Names of those arrested:
Jeffrey Webb
Eugenio Figueredo
Jack Warner
Eduardo Li
Julio Rocha
Costas Takkas
Rafael Esquivel
José Maria Marin
Nicolás Leoz
The Guardian writes that there are currently operations taking place in other parts of the world with total arrests numbering fifteen.
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