God bless America

[Dauphin]

At ****ing last, someone is tackling the issue.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/fifa-corruption-arrests-live-blog-football-officials-arrested-in-investigation--live-updates-10277649.html

Several senior Fifa officials have been arrested in a dawn raid at a luxury Swiss hotel as part of an investigation into alleged “institutionalised corruption”.

Here are the latest updates:

Fifa officials arrested in corruption investigation

Police executed an early morning raid at a Zurich hotel

New York Times names 14 indicted officials

Those charged include Fifa vice president Jeffrey Webb

US officials say president Sepp Blatter 'not yet cleared'

Allegations include wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering

Officials to be extradited to the US to face federal charges

They are being investigated on suspicion of the 'acceptance of bribes and kick-backs' worth more than $100m

Please allow a moment for the live blog to load

Fifa's executives had met in Switzerland ahead of the football governing body's presidential election on Friday, when Fifa president Sepp Blatter was expected to be elected for a fifth term.

Mr Blatter was not understood to be one of the executives charged

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Now go all the way and arrest Blatter.

[Dauphin]

Excellent timing too, the election on Friday will be interestingly spun no doubt.

[kentonio]

Yeah, much love for the FBI from the UK today.

[I AM MOBIUS]

[rah]

Yeah, heard briefly about it on the radio on the way in this morning. I need to find more info.

[Jon Miller]

America, World Police.

JM

[kentonio]

Oh Russia...

Russia slams 'illegal' use of US law in FIFA probe

Moscow (AFP) - Russia on Wednesday accused the United States of illegally applying its legal force "far beyond its borders" following the US indictment against FIFA officials and their arrests in Zurich.

The awarding of the 2018 World Cup to Russia forms part of one of the two corruption investigations launched on Wednesday.

"Without going into the details of the accusations... this is clearly another case of illegal exterritorial use of US law," said a statement on the website of the Russian foreign ministry.

"We hope that this will not in any way be used to cast a shadow on the international football organisation as a whole and its decisions.

"Once again we are calling on Washington to stop attempts to make justice far beyond its borders using its legal norms and to follow the generally accepted international legal procedures," it said.

Swiss police detained several FIFA leaders in a dawn raid as part of a twin corruption inquiry that rocked world football's governing body two days before its leader Sepp Blatter seeks a new term.

No Russians are among the seven people detained on suspicion of paying bribes and kick-backs over the past two decades.

The investigation plans to question 10 members of the FIFA executive committee who took part in the 2010 vote awarding the World Cups to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

The committee since 2009 includes Russia's Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, though it is not clear whether he is one of the people to be questioned.

Mutko told Tass news agency that he has "nothing to hide" and is ready to provide any information.

[C0ckney]

this is good news, let's hope the charges stick.

[kentonio]

America, World Police.

JM

It's actually a joint US and Swiss operation, also the headquarters of Concacaf (which are currently being raided) are in Miami. Also apparently a lot of the bribe money was in dollars and went through US banks.

Although to be honest I wouldn't care who it was kicking FIFA in the face right now, they've deserved it for decades.

[kentonio]

this is good news, let's hope the charges stick.

Apparently the US has a 97% conviction rate for these kinds of offenses.

[N35t0r]

FIFA

Shame that all this comes to light after Grondona's death.

[C0ckney]

the brazilian official josé maria marin is famous for his shamelessly corrupt ways. here he is stealing a medal at a youth football tournament in são paulo.

[Dauphin]

It's actually a joint US and Swiss operation, also the headquarters of Concacaf (which are currently being raided) are in Miami. Also apparently a lot of the bribe money was in dollars and went through US banks.

Although to be honest I wouldn't care who it was kicking FIFA in the face right now, they've deserved it for decades.

It's amazing how much historical criminal activity could go untouched if they only made the payments in EUR. European Banks have been fined hundreds of billions of dollars in the past few years, and the only U.S. connection was that the payments cleared through the U.S.

[kentonio]

Apparently all FIFA employees in Switzerland have been told they are not allowed to leave the country. That includes some big names as they're all there for the election.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Bless the Swiss as well. Their criminal investigation focuses on the bidding for 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The American criminal investigation involves bribery and kickbacks involving sports marketing companies. Both countries are to be commended and doing the arresting right before the elections? Fantastic.

The American investigation involves the marketing firm "Traffic", whose indicted owner was the Chairperson of the NASL (The 2nd division in the US). He's been fired, obviously.