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Offline asylumseeker

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #690 on: August 29, 2018, 04:54:29 PM »
Webb seeks 8th new sentence date in FIFA racketeering probe
By Brent Fuller, Cayman Compass


Cayman Islands businessman Jeffrey Webb has asked that a U.S. court delay his sentencing in connection with the ongoing FIFA racketeering probe again.

Federal prosecutors did not object to the request filed Aug. 20 and if the court in the Eastern District of New York agrees, it would be the eighth time Mr. Webb has received a sentencing date from the U.S. court.

Mr. Webb’s attorney, Ernie Gao, has asked to postpone six months beyond the currently scheduled Sept. 7 sentencing date. That would put Mr. Webb’s sentencing into March 2019 – nearly four years after he was first arrested in Zurich, Switzerland.

The former FIFA vice president was arrested in May 2015 and pleaded guilty in November 2015 to seven counts in a U.S. federal court indictment alleging he and dozens of other defendants conspired to rig sports marketing contracts for various world football events in exchange for millions of dollars in bribes.

The scheme described by U.S. prosecutors alleged Mr. Webb and others at FIFA solicited bribes from sports marketing companies in exchange for directing lucrative broadcast and commercial rights deals for various football tournaments to the bribe-payers. Dozens of U.S. banks were used to make those alleged bribe payments to Mr. Webb and others, prosecutors said.

It is unclear what Mr. Webb’s fate will be once his U.S. sentence is decided and any jail time assigned is served. He has been under house arrest since 2015, being allowed to venture out only for court-approved reasons, according to public records.

The Cayman Islands national is facing separate charges of conspiracy to defraud the local government in connection with the CarePay public hospital swipe-card scandal, and Anti-Corruption Commission investigators are looking into another matter involving the Cayman Islands Football Association, of which Mr. Webb was president for more than 20 years.

During earlier U.S. court proceedings, the presiding judge in the case noted that deportation was a likely result of Mr. Webb’s criminal conviction.

Webb sentencing deferred for seventh time
Cayman News Service


Cayman’s fallen football hero, Jeff Webb,  who was convicted of racketeering offences relating to his time as president of the regional football body CONCACAF, has managed to postpone his sentence for the seventh time, according to information from the US court in New York dealing with the case. Webb has already given up over $6.7 million in relation to the FIFA bribery and corruption scandal, in which he was heavily involved. He was due to be sentenced on 7 September but his attorneys wrote to the courts on Monday asking for a six-month delay.

There is no indication in the letter why his lawyers requested the delay but they indicated there was no objection from prosecutors.

Webb pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy back in November 2016 following his high-profile arrest, along with other FIFA executives and officials from sports marketing firms, at the football organisation’s annual meeting in Zürich in 2015. Webb, who now lives in Georgia, was first jailed in Switzerland but was then placed under house arrest in the US.

It is not clear why Webb’s sentencing hearings have been constantly postponed but it undermines the Cayman authorities’ ability to apply for Webb’s extradition to Cayman, where he is wanted in connection with a hospital corruption scandal here.

His local business partner, Canover Watson, has already been tried, convicted, sentenced and released after serving just two years of his seven-year term. Webb has not yet answered the charges. It is understood that he is also wanted for questioning by the Cayman Anti-Corruption Commission in connection with an alleged financial scandal relating to local football body CIFA.

The deferments of Webb’s sentencing hearings indicate that it is unlikely he will be incarcerated in relation to his FIFA crimes.

The case, US v. Jeffrey Webb et al., case number 1:15-cr-00252,  is being heard in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New YorK.

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #691 on: November 25, 2018, 08:03:53 AM »
Conmebol asks Fifa to stage the World Cup every two years
By Jonathan Wilson, The Guardian


Conmebol is lobbying Fifa to stage the World Cup every two years rather than every four, president Alejandro Domínguez confirmed on Friday.

Having seen the success of the Uefa Nations League, he would also be open to the possibility of expanding that to include South American teams.

“The proposal we have made to Fifa is to play the World Cup every two years and not every four,” Domínguez said. “Instead of having the Nations League in between we can just go ahead every two years and have a World Cup and that is for everyone.

“It’s for the players because they could play four World Cups if we move to a two-year cycle. If we stay with this format many players will not be able to play more than two.

“There are many solutions. We could hold the tournament in Europe, South America, North America, Africa and Asia without such a long wait. So we see an opportunity there and there is a proposal put forward to Fifa.”

Money, needless to say, is a motivating factor. “In terms of economics Fifa make money and give more money,” Domínguez said.

What that means for the existing continental tournaments is unclear. Domínguez insists he gets on well with both the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, and the Uefa president, Aleksandar Ceferin, holding a global tournament in a slot currently reserved for the European Championship would clearly be to the benefit of Fifa.

The Nations League is an appealing prospect and could serve as a compromise solution rather than abandoning the present structure altogether.

Domínguez’s position at present is essentially that he is open to dialogue and keen to prevent Europe moving even further ahead of South America, economically and technically, than it already is. “I always say we have to work together and never say no, I always say why not,” he said.

Offline soccerman

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #692 on: November 25, 2018, 10:53:02 AM »
Don't know about every 2 years but if they can figure out a way to broaden the Champions League to a few a few non UEFA teams from Soth America like Boca and River, that could be exciting. No one really pays attention to the club WC anyway.

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #693 on: December 27, 2018, 01:41:54 PM »
‘There was blood everywhere’: the abuse case against the Afghan FA president
By Suzanne Wrack, The Guardian


Afghanistan women’s national team players have made detailed allegations to the Guardian of sexual and physical abuse they say they suffered at the hands of the president of the football federation, Keramuudin Karim.

The players, who say they are speaking anonymously because of fears for their or their families’ safety, have made claims ranging from serious sexual and physical assault to harassment and threats to themselves or family members from Karim.

One said Karim put a gun to her head after he punched her in the face and sexually assaulted her in a hidden bedroom accessed from his office, threatening to shoot her and her family if she spoke to the media.

Another claimed Karim threatened, in front of her teammates at training, to cut her tongue after she ran off when being sexually assaulted, and then attempted to remove her clothes on another occasion.

A third player alleged that Karim tried to kiss her neck and lips and that after she ran from the room she was dropped from the national squad and accused of being a lesbian. One of the other players also claims Karim spread a rumour that she was a lesbian.

An investigation was launched and Karim and four other members of the federation (AFF) were suspended by the Attorney General’s Office in Afghanistan, after the Guardian in November published allegations of abuse. Fifa said it was looking into the claims and suspended Karim two weeks ago for 90 days “which may be extended pending proceedings”.

All the allegations have been put by the Guardian to Karim, who has not responded to requests for comment.

One player said she was targeted after training when going to Karim’s office to ask for money to cover transport costs. “I asked for help. He started trying to come closer to me. He said: ‘I want to come closer to you, I want to see your body.’

“I tried to ignore him, I was very polite to him. I said: ‘Listen, I need money for my transportation, I don’t have money. Can you help me? If you can’t, please let me go.’ He said he would help me and told me to wait. I said I wanted to go home. He said: ‘Don’t worry, I will give you money.’

“The president told me to follow him to the next room. So I went with him. I thought he was going to help me. I followed him into the next room. He went into another room and there was another room off that which was very dark. Inside that room there was a door. But you can’t see the door; it looks like the wall, it is hard to see it’s a door. It was open. In there it was like a hotel room, a bedroom with everything inside and a bathroom. He told me to go in. I went in, he was behind me and he locked the door.

“He told me to sit on the bed. I was worried, I was shaking. He said: ‘Today I want to find out what is behind your clothes.’ I was telling him: ‘Leave me alone, I want to go home.’ I stood up and I said I wanted to go home and he said to me: ‘Scream as much as you want, there won’t be anyone hearing you, they can’t hear you.’

“Then he started pushing me towards the bed. I stood up again. I said: ‘Leave me alone, I only came for support, I don’t want it any more, please leave me alone, let me go.’

“He was telling me … that today he would find out if I was a lesbian or not – because I was with girls a lot and I looked a little like a boy.

“I stood up and tried to fight, but he punched me in the face. I fell on to the bed. I tried to rise and go to the door but because the door used his fingerprint it was not possible to open it without his fingerprint. So I couldn’t get out. He punched me on the face and on my mouth. Blood was coming from my nose and lips. He started beating me, I fell on to the bed, and everything went dark …

“When I woke up, all my clothes were gone and there was blood everywhere. I was shaking, I didn’t know what happened to me. The bed was covered in blood, blood was coming from my mouth, nose and vagina. I went to the bathroom. I washed my face and put my clothes on. I went back and said: ‘I will go like this and I will tell the media what happened to me.’

“He took a gun, his gun, put it on my head and said: ‘See what I have done to you? I can shoot you in the head and everywhere will be your brain. And I can do the same with your family. If you want your family to be alive you should keep quiet.’

“Then he threw money at my face and told me to take it and get out. He said he didn’t want to see my face. He opened the door and I left.”

Unable to tell her family what had happened, she made up a sporting injury. “I did not feel well. I found out through friends in the team that the president had spread a rumour that I was a lesbian and that he had caught me with another girl and that is why I was kicked out. That was depressing for me and very dangerous for me.”

Her decision to speak out is not without risk. “I know that my family is in danger and I know they will be when more comes out. But I want to stand and speak about it because of the future of girls. I want girls to have a safe environment.”

She said Karim’s behaviour was widely known inside and outside the squad. “It became acceptable around women’s football, his behaviour.”

Why was it not reported to the authorities? “He has huge power inside the system and inside the government,” she said of Karim, a former governor of Panjshir province and chief of staff in the ministry of defence before he took over the presidency of the AFF in 2004. “No one can stand up against him because he is so powerful … Today the girls can’t raise their voice because they are afraid. They can get killed.”

A second player said she was asked to go to Karim’s office by a member of the federation. “I was not aware of his character,” she said. She claims Karim sat with her on a sofa. “He started talking and flirting with me. He started touching my body and then he tried to kiss me. I started crying, I was scared and I was panicking, I was trying to push him away.”

She says she screamed, attacked him and was able to escape his grasp. For one month, she says, she hid. “I was feeling so weak and I couldn’t share my story. At the same time I was receiving phone calls from the federation and especially from the president, pushing me, pressuring me to come back because it was destroying his image.”

She returned but, she says, her ordeal was far from over. “The president, whenever I was going to training, was coming on to the pitch and in front of everyone saying I was not polite, I talked a lot, and was directly threatening me, saying he would cut my tongue to silence me. He was non-stop abusing me and harassing me.”

One day she says she was early for training at the federation. “I was sitting on the benches waiting for the rest of the team. He saw I was there on the security cameras. He started calling me on the phone. I was ignoring it so he came out himself and told me to come. I had to follow him, there was nothing I could do. I had to cross four doors – he had gone ahead and had me on the phone giving me instructions of where to go.

“After the four doors I was in a bedroom. It was like a five-star hotel with a mirror, modern furniture, a bed, women’s stuff, perfumes and stuff on the drawers. When I got there and saw that I started recalling the stories I had heard … I was scared and I started crying, I thought it was the end of my life.

“The president was naked and was on the bed waiting for me. When I started crying he got up and ran towards me and held me and was trying to pull my scarf and dress away. He was attacking and tearing at my dress. I was crying, I was screaming, I was struggling. I was very lucky. He received a phone call; I started screaming, he pushed me away and tried to silence me but I didn’t stop screaming. He had no choice then and he opened the door. When he opened the door I ran.”

A third player claimed she went to Karim’s office “to get his signature” when her ordeal started. “I was trying to push him away and he was trying to kiss my neck and lips. I was telling him to behave and that he was the age of my grandfather and how could he do it? He told me he didn’t know why I was behaving weird with him, that I was so friendly with him outside.

“I said I thought he was just a friend he was very social, and he told me that ‘Our friendship is having sex at the end’. I said: ‘I hate to even hear these things, let me go.’ I was trying to push him away and I ran from the room.

“The first thing he did was take me off the list of the national team for a training camp abroad. He then was insulting me in front of everyone and accused me of being a lesbian and kicked me out of the federation.”

She claims she witnessed the verbal abuse of the second alleged victim: “She was crying, everyone saw, he was insulting her.”

The investigations and public support from various government officials including the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, offer hope, but all three players say trust is low. “I can’t trust the government,” one said. Another claimed: “Karim is a very powerful guy in government. He has a lot of influence and he has money – he can buy people.” She urged Fifa and foreign governments active in Afghanistan to take action.

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #694 on: December 27, 2018, 04:19:49 PM »
I'll risk stating the obvious: even if Afghanistan offers to host the MNT, it probably would not be wise to take up the offer. Being charitable with "probably".

Offline Mad Scorpion a/k/a Big Bo$$

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #695 on: January 07, 2019, 10:11:12 AM »
Somebody need to beat dat f**ka to ah frazzle and leave him on the practice pitch with ah dildo in he mowt!

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #696 on: January 07, 2019, 03:59:30 PM »
This morning on the radio I heard about R Kelly and his disgusting behavior towards young girls and women, now to read this....it have real sick men in this world. I hope FIFA and the gov't can bring him to justice, no place for that in this world.

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #697 on: November 20, 2019, 01:33:50 PM »
'Very likely' that China hosts the 2030 FIFA World Cup: Granada CF.

Here's another moral dilemma awaiting FIFA. I think we all understand how it's going to work out.

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #698 on: April 06, 2020, 09:55:26 PM »
Three Media Executives and Sports Marketing Company Indicted in FIFA Case
Media Release, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York


Former Executives from U.S. Broadcasting Company 21st Century Fox and Spanish Sports Media Company Imagina Media Audiovisual SL, along with Argentina-Based Sports Marketing Company Full Play Group S.A., Charged with Bribing Soccer Officials
A 53-count third-superseding indictment (the “Indictment”) was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging sports marketing executives Hernan Lopez and Carlos Martinez, formerly of 21st Century Fox, Inc. (“Fox”); Gerard Romy, former co-CEO of Spanish media company Imagina Media Audiovisual SL (“Imagina”); and Uruguayan sports marketing company Full Play Group S.A. (“Full Play”) (collectively, the “New Defendants”) with wire fraud, money laundering and related offenses – including, as to Romy and Full Play, racketeering conspiracy – in connection with the government’s long-running investigation and prosecution of corruption in organized soccer.  The Indictment, returned under seal by a federal grand jury on March 18, 2020, includes additional charges against certain defendants located overseas who were previously indicted and have yet to be extradited to the United States.

Defendants Lopez, Martinez and Full Play are scheduled to be arraigned on April 9, 2020, before United States District Judge Pamela K. Chen in Brooklyn. 

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI), and Ryan L. Korner, Special Agent-in-Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles Field Office (IRS-CI), announced the charges.

“The charges unsealed today reflect this Office’s ongoing commitment to rooting out corruption at the highest levels of international soccer and at the businesses engaged in promoting and broadcasting the sport,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue.  “Companies and individuals alike should understand that, regardless of their wealth or power, they will be brought to justice if they use the U.S. financial system to further corrupt ends.”  Mr. Donoghue extended his thanks to the agents and other investigative personnel at the FBI New York Eurasian Joint Organized Crime Squad, the FBI’s Integrity in Sport and Gaming Initiative and the IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office, as well as their colleagues in the United States and abroad, for their continuing effort in this case.

“The profiteering and bribery in international soccer have been deep-seated and commonly known practices for decades.  These men, along with the general public, have known the FBI New York and our many law enforcement partners are investigating the illicit handshakes and backroom deals hidden in the infrastructure of soccer events, venues and marketing contracts.  The first public charges date back to 2015. This should illustrate to everyone still hoping to score millions corruptly, we're going to find you,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney.

“As charged in the Indictment, over a period of many years, the defendants and their co-conspirators corrupted the governance and business of international soccer with bribes and kickbacks, and engaged in criminal fraudulent schemes that caused significant harm to the sport of soccer.  Their schemes included the use of shell companies, sham consulting contracts and other concealment methods to disguise the bribes and kickback payments and make them appear legitimate.  IRS-CI is proud to have worked alongside our partners at the FBI to unravel this trail of deception,” stated IRS-CI Special Agent-in-Charge Korner.

As alleged in the Indictment, FIFA and its six continental confederations – including the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (“CONCACAF”), headquartered in the United States, and the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (“CONMEBOL”), the confederation governing soccer in South America – together with affiliated regional federations, national member associations and sports marketing companies, constitute an enterprise of legal entities associated in fact for purposes of the federal racketeering laws.  The principal – and entirely legitimate – purpose of the enterprise is to regulate and promote the sport of soccer worldwide.  Consistent with previous indictments returned in the case, the Indictment alleges that over a period of more than two decades, the defendants and their co-conspirators corrupted the enterprise by engaging in various criminal activities, including fraud, bribery and money laundering.

As set forth in the Indictment, the New Defendants used their positions in the world of international soccer to engage in schemes involving the solicitation, offer, acceptance, payment and receipt of bribes and kickbacks, principally to obtain lucrative broadcast rights to various international soccer tournaments and events.   For example, as alleged:

Lopez and Martinez, formerly high-ranking executives of Fox subsidiaries responsible for developing and carrying out Fox’s sports broadcasting businesses in Latin America, joined Full Play and other co-conspirators in a scheme involving the annual payment of millions of dollars in bribes to officials of CONMEBOL in exchange for the lucrative broadcasting rights to the Copa Libertadores, the region’s most popular club tournament, among other events.  Lopez and Martinez also relied on loyalty secured through the payment of bribes to certain CONMEBOL officials to advance the business interests of Fox, including to obtain confidential bidding information for the rights to broadcast the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments in the United States, rights that Fox successfully obtained.
 
Romy was a high-ranking executive and shareholder of Imagina, a privately held, multinational media conglomerate based in Barcelona, Spain, that owned various subsidiaries around the world, including in the United States.  Romy participated in schemes to pay millions of dollars to high-ranking officials of the Caribbean Football Union (“CFU”) and of federations within the Central American Football Union (“UNCAF”), both regional soccer unions operating under the CONCACAF umbrella, to secure the media and marketing rights to FIFA World Cup qualifier matches organized by federations within the CFU and UNCAF.  In connection with the CFU scheme, Romy and his co-conspirators agreed to pay Jeffrey Webb, a senior official of the CFU and the president of CONCACAF, a $3 million bribe in exchange for a share of a contract awarding the media and marketing rights to CFU members’ home World Cup qualifier matches for the 2018 and 2022 qualification cycles.
 
Full Play, a sports marketing company incorporated in Uruguay, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and owned by father-and-son defendants Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis, participated in numerous schemes to pay bribes to officials of CONMEBOL and CONCACAF in exchange for media and marketing rights to various soccer events, including World Cup qualifier and friendly matches, the Copa Libertadores, and multiple editions of the Copa América, a national team tournament administered by CONMEBOL.  Hugo and Mariano Jinkis, charged in the first indictment in the case unsealed on May 27, 2015, are among the defendants charged in the Indictment and remain fugitives.
 
In connection with the above schemes, the Indictment charges Romy and Full Play with RICO conspiracy and all four New Defendants with wire fraud and money laundering offenses.  Each of the offenses carries a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment, and, if convicted, each defendant faces mandatory restitution, forfeiture and a fine.

Other schemes alleged in the Indictment relate to the payment and receipt of bribes and kickbacks in connection with, among other things, contracts for the media and marketing rights to additional soccer events and FIFA’s selection of the countries to host various editions of the World Cup, including the World Cup hosted by Russia in 2018 and the World Cup scheduled to be hosted by Qatar in 2022.

The charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The government’s case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Samuel P. Nitze, M. Kristin Mace, Keith D. Edelman, Patrick T. Hein, Kaitlin T. Farrell, David C. Pitluck and Brian D. Morris, with assistance provided by the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and Organized Crime and Gang Section.

The New Defendants:

HERNAN LOPEZ
Age: 49
Los Angeles, California

CARLOS MARTINEZ
Age: 51
Doral, Florida

GERARD ROMY
Age: 65
Barcelona, Spain

FULL PLAY GROUP S.A.
Buenos Aires, Argentina






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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #699 on: April 07, 2020, 03:25:15 AM »
US prosecutors allege bribes in 2018, 2022 World Cup votes
By Ronald Blum, AP News


Prosecutors revealed new details of alleged bribes paid to FIFA executive committee members to gain their votes for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup and charged a pair of former 21st Century Fox executives with making illegal payments to win broadcast rights for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

An indictment unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn says Nicolás Leoz, then president of the South American governing body CONMEBOL, and former Brazil federation president Ricardo Teixeira received bribes to vote for Qatar at the 2010 FIFA executive committee meeting.

Jack Warner of Trinidad and Tobago, president of the North and Central American and Caribbean governing body CONCACAF, received $5 million in bribes to vote for Russia to host in 2018 from 10 different shell companies that included entities in Anguilla, Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands, the indictment alleged. Guatemala federation president Rafael Salguero was promised a $1 million bribe to vote for Russia, according to the indictment.

Leoz, who died last August, avoided extradition, as have Warner and Teixeira. Salguero pleaded guilty in 2018 to two counts of wire fraud conspiracy and one count each of racketeering conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.

Alejandro Burzaco, former head of the marketing company Torneos y Competencias, testified in 2017 that all three South Americans on the FIFA executive committee took million-dollar bribes to support Qatar, which prevailed over the U.S. 14-8.

Former 21st Century Fox Inc. executives Hernan Lopez and Carlos Martinez were charged Monday with making payments to CONMEBOL officials to obtain broadcast rights bidding information from a co-conspirator whose identify was not identified in the indictment.

ESPN had U.S. English-language television rights to the World Cup from 1994-2014, but Fox in 2011 gained the rights for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. After the 2022 tournament in Qatar was shifted from summer to late autumn, a time when it is likely to get less attention in the U.S., FIFA awarded Fox rights for 2026 without competitive bidding.

Also charged in the indictment, handed up by a grand jury on March 18, are former Imagina Media Audiovisual CEO Gerard Romy; and the Uruguayan sports marketing company Full Play Group SA.

The indictment includes charges of wire fraud and money laundering. The charges against Romy and Full Play also allege racketeering conspiracy.

“The profiteering and bribery in international soccer have been deep-seated and commonly known practices for decades,” William F. Sweeney Jr., assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, said in a statement. “Over a period of many years, the defendants and their co-conspirators corrupted the governance and business of international soccer with bribes and kickbacks, and engaged in criminal fraudulent schemes that caused significant harm to the sport of soccer. Their schemes included the use of shell companies, sham consulting contracts and other concealment methods to disguise the bribes and kickback payments and make them appear legitimate.”

Since the first indictments were announced in May 2015, there have been 26 publicly announced guilty pleas, many from former soccer officials, including CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer.

CONMEBOL president Juan Ángel Napout and Brazil federation president José Maria Marin were convicted following trials. Napout is in prison in Florida and Marin was released from a prison last week. Some individuals await sentencing.

Lopez was CEO of Fox International Channels, a 21st Century Fox subsidiary, and Martinez was president of Fox International Channels and an executive of Fox Latin American Channel Inc. They are accused of joining with Full Play to pay million of dollars in bribes to CONMEBOL executives in exchange for rights to the Copa Libertadores, South America’s annual club championship.

“It’s shocking that the government would bring such a thin case,” Lopez’s lawyer, Matthew D. Umhofer, said in an email. “The indictment contains nothing more than single paragraph about Mr. Lopez that alleges nothing remotely improper. Mr. Lopez can’t wait to defend himself at trial.”

Steven J. McCool, Martinez’s attorney, said in an email: “We are certain a jury will swiftly exonerate Carlos, as the charges against him are nothing more than stale fiction.”

Carlos Ortiz said Full Play intends to plead not guilty at Thursday’s arraignment and his client “looks forward to vigorously defending itself against all of the charges at trial.”

Romy’s lawyer, Robert J. Giuffra Jr., declined comment. Fox Sports did not respond to a request for comment.

Romy is accused with joining his alleged co-conspirators to pay a $3 million bribe to Jeffrey Webb, the former president of the North and Central American and Caribbean governing body CONCACAF, for media and marketing rights to home World Cup qualifiers in the Caribbean for the 2018 and 2022 cycles. Webb pleaded guilty on Nov. 23, 2015, to several counts and awaits sentencing.

Offline pull stones

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #700 on: April 07, 2020, 07:17:08 AM »
Nothing new here. but what we really want is something juicy on infantino and fat boy. these is the fellers who’s hurting us right now and it would be real nice to get them out the way, and it would be a lovely coconut frosting on the cake if montagliani was some how implicated in the melange to make it a fiesta royale.

oh well, it’s not really bad to dream since that’s all we have in CFU to look forward too, the people even take away we little regional tournament that used to give us a little hope and something to look forward too. I still say CFU should have its own confederation, and why not?

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #701 on: April 29, 2020, 02:49:49 PM »
Panama Papers, off-shore TV rights deals and Lauber meeting cover-ups return to bite Infantino
By Andrew Warshaw (insideworldfootball).


FIFA president Gianni Infantino is once again facing allegations of wrongdoing in his dealings with Switzerland’s under-fire attorney general Michael Lauber over a tv rights contract he handled when he worked as UEFA’s legal affairs director.

The Tribune de Geneve newspaper claims Infantino is suspected of having intervened with Lauber, shortly after he was elected FIFA boss in succession to Sepp Blatter, to get an investigation dropped about his awarding of the contract in question.

The paper says it has supporting documentation that shows Infantino met with Lauber in 2016 to “get rid of an investigation that threatened him personally”.

Until recently, Lauber who led the Swiss side of the FIFAgate scandal, had been investigating several cases of suspected corruption dating back to 2014.

Last month, however, Lauber, who has denied any wrongdoing, was sanctioned for disloyalty, lying and breaching his office’s code of conduct. He also had his pay cut for a year after a watchdog found he repeatedly told falsehoods and broke a prosecutors’ code of conduct.

According to the Tribune de Geneve, Infantino was “worried” about a specific investigation and wrote to his childhood friend, Rinaldo Arnold, who had become a senior prosecutor in Switzerland’s Haut-Valais region where they grew up together.

“I will try to explain to the OAG (attorney general’s office) that it is in my interests that everything should be cleared up as soon as possible, that it be clearly stated that I have nothing to do with this matter,” Infantino wrote in an email quoted by the newspaper.

Arnold, who had helped to set up a first meeting between Infantino and Lauber, allegedly replied: “What is important is the meeting in two weeks’ time. If you like, I can come with you again.”

That meeting took place on April 22, 2016, the newspaper said, adding that what happened during it remains “a mystery”, and the OAG “refuses to speak about it”.

The contract in question first emerged in files released as part of the Panama Papers offshore tax haven affair four years ago which laid bare the activities of the rich and powerful. According to the Tribune de Geneve,  criminal proceedings were opened in April, 2016,  against an unknown person on suspicion of “unfair management” and “breach of trust” by the Public Ministry of the Swiss Confederation (MPC) following the revelations.

According to the  Panama Papers file, the contract was signed off in 2006 to Argentine father and son Hugo and Mariano Jinkis who bought TV rights for the Champions League to be shown in Ecuador and then are reported to have immediately sold them on for almost three times the price.  The father and son TV rights dealers are among those indicted in the US in the FIFAgate scandal.

FIFA has responded to the Tribune de Geneve story by telling agencies  “the email referred to in the article was obviously obtained by hacking, which is an illegal and criminal act.”

It added the article was “completely taken out of context with the sole objective of misleading the reader”.

“Not only Mr Infantino had no reason to lie in that email, the email never said Mr Infantino wanted to ‘clear his name’,” FIFA added.

But the Tribune de Geneve suggests that between July and September 2016, there were more than 20 calls between Swiss prosecutors and FIFA lawyers.

“Prosecutors have apparently helped FIFA formulate its requests” as a plaintiff so that they could be “accepted by the OAG” – an attitude which “seems incompatible with the OAG’s duty of impartiality”, the paper said.

In November 2017, “after a third informal meeting” between Infantino and Lauber, the OAG reportedly closed the investigation into the contract.

Contact the writer of this story at andrew.warshaw@insideworldfootball.com

« Last Edit: April 29, 2020, 02:51:21 PM by Flex »
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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #702 on: April 30, 2020, 07:45:18 PM »
Fifa takes action after Swiss authorities drop part of Sepp Blatter investigation
David Conn and Philip Oltermann, The Guardian


Fifa is preparing to press the authorities in Switzerland to prosecute Sepp Blatter for alleged corruption, after the Swiss attorney general dropped part of its investigation despite police reports listing years of apparent gifts and payments provided to the then vice-president, Jack Warner, in return for votes for Blatter in Fifa presidential elections.

Senior Fifa officials are understood to be considering all options if the case against Blatter is discontinued, potentially including suing the attorney general’s office for failing to prosecute.

In two Swiss federal police reports seen by the Guardian, a conclusion is drawn that Warner wielded crucial votes to support Blatter and elect him Fifa president in 1998 and 2002 in return for “preferential treatment”, including TV contracts for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

From 1990 to 2011 Warner was president of Concacaf – the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football – which had more than 40 countries as members and whose votes, invariably wielded as a bloc, were crucial in presidential elections.

Blatter’s tenure as president of Fifa, from his successful 1998 election campaign to his fall in 2015, was marked throughout by corruption allegations, which he denied, but efforts to oppose him, mostly marshalled by the Scandinavian countries’ FAs, failed to garner sufficient votes.

One police report states Warner and Concacaf had “already been granted a financial advantage in May 1998” a month before Blatter, previously the Fifa general-secretary, was elected president for the first time. The other report contains details of a 2005 contract signed by Blatter, granting the TV rights for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups to the Caribbean Football Union, of which Warner was also president.

The report noted that a $14m payment from a broadcaster for the rights was diverted by means of a sub-agreement to a company owned by Warner. It states $3.78m was due back to Fifa under the terms of the agreement but the CFU never paid it and Fifa has never received it.

“On the basis of the information at hand,” the police report states in its conclusion, “a link can be established between the preferential treatment of Warner and the Concacaf votes required for Blatter’s election at the Fifa presidential elections in the years 1998 and 2002.”

In a statement the Swiss Office of the Attorney General confirmed it is ending one part of its investigation into Blatter for alleged “aggravated criminal mismanagement”. This was opened in September 2015 as his presidency collapsed under multiple anti-corruption proceedings, mainly mounted by the US Department of Justice. The OAG said the concluded part relates to “the criminal investigation’s facts and accusations regarding the contractual relationship with the Caribbean Football Union”.

Although the OAG said it continues to pursue other areas of its investigation, officials at Fifa working under Gianni Infantino, who replaced Blatter in February 2016, are said to be intent on pressing the case. Fifa as an organisation is formally classed as a victim in the proceedings and is taking legal action for the return of any money found to have been illicitly paid out. Some unfavourable comparisons are being drawn between the lack of prosecutions in Switzerland five years since investigations began and multiple convictions secured by the US authorities.

Blatter has not been charged by US authorities and maintains his innocence of any wrongdoing. His representative said he had no comment to make. Warner is indicted for multiple corruption offences in the US, which he rejects, and he is contesting extradition proceedings from his home island of Trinidad. He did not respond to an email from the Guardian about the contents of the Swiss police reports.

A Fifa spokesperson said in an official statement: “Fifa will continue to cooperate with all law enforcement agencies, including those in Switzerland, in the hope and belief that all those responsible for causing harm to football will finally be held to account.”
« Last Edit: April 30, 2020, 07:47:53 PM by asylumseeker »

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #703 on: April 30, 2020, 07:51:07 PM »
"Someone" is anticipating Blatter as an object in the mirror gaining on him and is trying to avoid that piece ah vengeance.

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #704 on: May 26, 2020, 07:54:48 AM »
Gayle questions FIFA as it moves to help Zimbabwean FA clear debt.
By Narissa Fraser (Newsday).


ATTORNEY Matthew Gayle wants to know FIFA’s “real motive” behind appointing a normalisation committee to the TT Football Association (TTFA). This was his response to news that the world governing body for football agreed to help the Zimbabwean Football Association (ZIFA) clear its debt.

The Herald newspaper in Zimbabwe, on Saturday, reported that FIFA would “bail out” ZIFA of its US$10 million debt. It said auditors are currently verifying figures with organisations and individuals owed. “FIFA have approved two of the eight project applications, which ZIFA tendered, under the FIFA Forward Programme.

“The other project which, was approved and will receive funding from Zurich, is the association’s restructuring.”

But in March, FIFA removed the former TTFA executive and appointed a normalisation committee owing to “low financial management methods” and “a massive debt.”

The TTFA currently has a debt of approximately TT$50 million – a significantly lower total than ZIFA.

Gayle, along with attorney Dr Emir Crowne are representing the embattled TTFA executive in an appeal against the committee’s appointment to TT’s High Court.

Speaking with Newsday on Sunday afternoon, Gayle said the decision shows the “inconsistency and unfairness” of FIFA’s actions against the TTFA.

“And it does suggest to me – in my humble opinion – that the real motive for the removal was not quite what FIFA has stated it was.”

He added, “As to how it would help the legal case, we would need some time to think through the implications of it and study the actual happenings on the ground as it were in Zimbabwe.”

He said despite FIFA’s claim the normalisation committee – headed by businessman Robert Hadad – is the “only legitimate leader,” of the TTFA, the constitution says otherwise. “It’s not a matter of my belief, it’s clear the TTFA is governed by its constitution.

“There are means for removal of the elected executive, and a normalisation committee is being appointed FIFA is not one of those ways.”

He said unless their tenure comes to an end or they retire, they remain the “duly elected executive.”

On Saturday, TTFA technical committee chairman Keith Look Loy told Newsday he finds the decision shows how “cynical and hypocritical” FIFA is.

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #705 on: May 28, 2020, 08:35:08 AM »
This morning on the radio I heard about R Kelly and his disgusting behavior towards young girls and women, now to read this....it have real sick men in this world. I hope FIFA and the gov't can bring him to justice, no place for that in this world.

Returning to this in light of the 90-day sanction imposed on Jean-Bart. An arrest warrant was issued for Keramuudin Karim and he was banned for life and fined a million Swiss francs. And, there has been significant condemnation that the arrest warrant has not been converted into an actual arrest by Afghan authorities (barring any subsequent  developments, I understand this to be where things have stalled). If FIFA makes a consistent determination, Jean-Bart is staring at involuntary retirement from football's front line.
« Last Edit: May 28, 2020, 08:37:14 AM by asylumseeker »

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #706 on: August 29, 2020, 01:48:56 PM »
Infantino’s FIFA sees commercial revenues stall as staff count doubles.
By David Owen (Insideworldfootball).


August 28 – Gianni Infantino’s New FIFA may have enjoyed the odd commercial success, notably with esports, but it has failed to reignite the body’s value as a marketing vehicle for international corporations. This has been treading water since FIFA was engulfed by reputational issues in the final days of the Blatter era.

The world governing body’s newly-published 2019 annual report indicates that marketing was still struggling in comparison with other revenue streams as we moved into the first year of a new business cycle.

Revealing that 2019 revenue totalled $766 million, the document states that this “exceeded the budget by six per cent, thanks to increases in all revenue sources except marketing rights”.

At $165 million, revenue from marketing rights was “slightly below budget for the year”, but still five per cent up compared to the same period of the previous cycle, the report goes on.

Based on the detailed budget for 2019 set out in FIFA’s 2017 financial report, it seems to me that that adverb “slightly” is being asked to do an awful lot of work in the preceding sentence.

Projecting total revenue of $722 million – which is indeed six per cent less than the $766 million finally achieved – the budget puts the expected contribution of revenue from marketing rights at $231 million.

So the $165 million total appears to have undershot budget by $66 million, or a whopping 28.5 per cent.

As the new report states, it is at least somewhat higher than the restated figure of $157.2 million generated from marketing rights five years ago in 2015.

Admittedly, year one of FIFA’s standard four-year cycle is far from the most significant in commercial terms.

Under the organisation’s initial 2019-22 revenue budget, dating also from the 2017 financial report, marketing rights over the entire period were forecast to yield $1.885 billion.

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, this has now been revised down to $1.766 billion.

That would represent an increase of not much more than six per cent from the $1.66 billion generated by marketing in 2015-18, which itself was only marginally higher than the $1.63 billion it produced in 2011-14 when Blatter was still in his pomp. In a world in which Apple has doubled its market capitalisation to around $2 trillion in about two years, that sequence is not exactly an example of explosive growth.

FIFA’s current roster of Partners consists of Adidas, Coca-Cola, Wanda, Hyundai/Kia Motors, Qatar Airways and Visa.

One of the areas where Infantino’s FIFA has, by contrast, shown impressive growth is employment.

According to the new annual report, the number of full-time employees at the end of 2019 was 947.

Given that the average number of employees in 2014 was 474, this means that FIFA’s headcount has almost exactly doubled in the space of about five years.

Personnel expenses, unsurprisingly, have rocketed too, from a restated $107.2 million in 2015 to $199.4 million in 2019.

The pandemic may well alter prevailing trends, but at this rate, the bill for staff over the full cycle could exceed $800 million.

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #707 on: September 16, 2020, 10:53:30 AM »
Julius Baer in talks to settle Fifa corruption case with US authorities
By Harry Dempsey and  Owen Walker, Financial Times


Julius Baer is in “advanced discussions” with the US Department of Justice to resolve allegations in a money laundering and corruption case linked to international football’s governing body Fifa, in a step towards drawing a line under the scandal for the Swiss bank.

The Zurich-based group said in a statement on Wednesday that the talks may result in a payment of tens of millions of dollars to the DoJ.

Since becoming chief executive last year, Philipp Rickenbacher has sought to distance Julius Baer from the regulatory probes that have dogged the group in recent years. He has also tried to move the private bank away from asset gathering, instead focusing on its most profitable clients.

Fifa case relates to Jorge Luis Arzuaga, an Argentine who worked for Julius Baer, who pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, in 2017 to facilitating payments from a sports marketing company to Fifa officials.

The DoJ-led investigation into Fifa came to a head in 2015 and led to the resignation of Sepp Blatter, Fifa’s longtime president.

In February Swiss market regulator Finma banned Julius Baer from making large acquisitions as part of a set of sanctions for its shortcomings in the fight against money laundering.

Those related to alleged cases of corruption between 2009 and 2018, linked to Fifa and also Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), a state-owned oil and natural gas group.

A German banker who worked for Julius Baer in Panama pleaded guilty in 2018 in the US to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in connection with PDVSA funds.

The announcement came as the bank said that at a shareholder meeting on November 2 it will propose paying out the second tranche of its 2019 dividend, which it split out of caution amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Rival Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse have also indicated they intend to restart dividend payments this year, with UBS suggesting it may even resume share buybacks.

Other European banks are unlikely to pay dividends until next year after the European Central Bank urged the lenders to freeze payments until January at the earliest.

Shares in Julius Baer were flat on Wednesday.

The bank said that it is seeking the resolution of legacy regulatory and legal matters and that it has co-operated on the case since 2015.

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #708 on: September 16, 2020, 12:36:17 PM »
FIFA’s Former No. 2 Caught Up in Scandal Had $11 Million Debt
By Hugo Miller, Bloomberg


A former FIFA official accused of accepting nearly $1.5 million in bribes told the Greek businessman accused of paying him the cash to delete most of their correspondence.

Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s former secretary general, sent the message to Dinos Deris in October 2016, six months before Swiss federal prosecutors opened a criminal investigation against the pair and a third businessman in March 2017.

“Dinos, I think you should delete all correspondence between us except the one related to FIBA or SportUnited but anything else, just trash,” Valcke wrote in an email presented as evidence on Wednesday at Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court. SportUnited is Valcke’s company, which had consulting and advisory contracts with organizations including FIBA, the International Basketball Federation.

“I am a bit paranoiac these last months,” Valcke said in an separate email sent a minute later.

Asked about that during cross-examination on his second day of testimony, Valcke said he didn’t have anything to reproach himself about.

“I only wanted to make sure that those around me” who might get dragged into this unfairly “would be protected,” he said.

The trial is the first in Switzerland to shed light on how Valcke and other senior FIFA officials were striking deals for media rights to the soccer tournaments around the globe that earn FIFA hundreds of millions of dollars. The scale of the money flowing between the sport’s governing body and its business partners became public after American and Swiss prosecutors opened probes into corruption allegations at FIFA in 2015.

Earlier on Wednesday, Valcke told the court a 500,000-euro ($593,000) payment that he was accused of accepting as a bribe from the Greek businessman was actually a loan. Valcke said he needed help to cover more than 10 million Swiss francs ($11 million) in personal debt. He had previously told Swiss prosecutors during interviews in 2017 that his debts were closer to 4 million francs.

His bank, Credit Suisse Group AG, “wouldn’t give me a cent more,” Valcke told authorities in 2017 testimony read out in court Wednesday. “I don’t have a lot of people I can ask money from. I had to find someone who would lend me money, so I asked Dinos.”

Valcke was in the administration of FIFA head Joseph “Sepp” Blatter, who ended up resigning. Most of FIFA’s board was replaced after the bribery probes and a series of early morning raids in high-end hotels near its headquarters.

In April 2014, Valcke wrote to Deris, asking for a second loan after having secured an initial 500,000 euros.

“Hi Dinos, One question,” he wrote in the email shown as evidence to the court on Wednesday. “Long story short. I have to find 1 million euros !! Can you make me a loan payable back either next December on our future business.”

Valcke told the court his debts stemmed from the purchase of two homes in Switzerland worth 7 million francs as well as a 34-meter (112-foot) boat valued at more than 2 million francs. He also stands accused of aggravated criminal mismanagement related to his failure to tell FIFA about financial help he received to buy a third property, a villa in Sardinia.

Valcke told the court he rejected the allegation of bribery and had never accepted money, other than a loan from the Greek.

“I didn’t arrange a corrupt deal with Dinos Deris,” he said. Still, the court learned on Wednesday that Valcke was aware his behavior with Deris was viewed suspiciously.

In a February 2014, Valcke emailed Deris, saying he had been told that morning that some people “are asking questions about you and why I protect you.”

Deris is charged with bribery for 1.25 million euros he allegedly paid Valcke in exchange for favorable treatment of his bid for Greek and Italian media rights for 12 years of tournaments.

Deris isn’t attending the trial because he is unwell, said his lawyer Alec Reymond but the judges decided he will face prosecution in absentia. Reymond said the whole trial is flawed and argued unsuccessful that it should be delayed because of an ongoing scandal involving Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber’s undocumented meetings with FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

Lauber resigned his post in July and is likely facing a criminal probe over the meetings he held with Infantino as part of his investigation into corruption at the organization. A specially-appointed prosecutor is already investigating Infantino.

FIFA has said the meetings were legitimate and legal. Lauber said he accepted a Swiss court’s sanction of him in July but “rejected the accusation of lying.”

Nasser Al-Khelaifi, chairman of BeIn Media Group, is accused of inciting Valcke to not tell FIFA about help he received from the Qatari to buy the Sardinian villa. At issue is whether Al-Khelaifi directly helped Valcke to buy the villa and use it for free given that BeIn Media was the sole bidder for the Middle Eastern media rights to the 2026 and 2030 World Cups.

A rental contract for the villa was signed by Abdelkader Bessedik, an associate of Al-Khelaifi, according to news reports. Al-Khelaifi is also chairman of Paris Saint-Germain, one of France’s biggest soccer teams.

The court on Wednesday was shown a BlackBerry Messenger message Valcke sent to his wife and an email he sent to the broker for the villa indicating that Al-Khelaifi was the buyer. Al-Khelaifi responded that he hadn’t sent the BlackBerry message to Valcke and had never spoken to the broker.

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #709 on: September 16, 2020, 12:40:34 PM »
It’s a huge number': Fifa believes football has lost £11.1bn to Covid
By Paul MacInnes, The Guardian


Football across the world lost $14.4bn (£11.1bn) during the coronavirus crisis, analysis conducted by Fifa suggests. The governing body of the global game has revealed that 150 of its 211 member associations have applied for emergency Covid grants, with one executive describing the situation as “impossible” for Fifa to mitigate alone.

The effect of the pandemic is estimated to have wiped $14.4bn from club and international football, even with restarts taken into account. “It’s a huge number and it covers the football economy in its entirety,” said Olli Rehn, the chairman of the Fifa Covid-19 relief plan steering committee. “It cannot be an exact figure, but it is an estimate of losses in 211 member associations.”

Fifa estimates that the club game generates $40-45bn annually. Rehn says that whereas European clubs have lost the most money in total, the relative losses incurred elsewhere are much greater, with Latin America and Brazil in particular seriously affected. These estimates are Fifa’s baseline scenario.

“If you look at the breakdown of losses in absolute and relative terms, European clubs and member associations were most impacted in absolute figures,” he said. “But relatively those outside Europe have struggled more, especially in Latin America, mainly as a result of revenue mix and season timing. Smaller countries that are dependent on Fifa will actually be hit least.”

Rehn, a former European commissioner and head of the bank of Finland, said: “The loss under any scenario was too great for Fifa to mitigate alone. We are working very intensively with confederations to improve the situation.”

This summer Fifa announced a $1.5bn programme of grants and loans designed to help its members. Each association was entitled to $1.5m in grants, with a third of that figure ringfenced for the development of the women’s game.

Rehn said the majority of associations had applied for the women’s game grants, which he insisted would be subject to strict regulations that would stop the money being spent on other purposes. “Conditions are constructed so that you cannot use it, for example, for building new pitches,” he said. “Fifa’s funding flows are transparent. All beneficiaries have to account for ever single cent to auditors … We have learned our lesson and we are improving our actions.”

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #710 on: September 24, 2020, 12:36:06 PM »
FIFA’s Former No. 2 Caught Up in Scandal Had $11 Million Debt
By Hugo Miller, Bloomberg


A former FIFA official accused of accepting nearly $1.5 million in bribes told the Greek businessman accused of paying him the cash to delete most of their correspondence.

Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s former secretary general, sent the message to Dinos Deris in October 2016, six months before Swiss federal prosecutors opened a criminal investigation against the pair and a third businessman in March 2017.

“Dinos, I think you should delete all correspondence between us except the one related to FIBA or SportUnited but anything else, just trash,” Valcke wrote in an email presented as evidence on Wednesday at Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court. SportUnited is Valcke’s company, which had consulting and advisory contracts with organizations including FIBA, the International Basketball Federation.

“I am a bit paranoiac these last months,” Valcke said in an separate email sent a minute later.

Asked about that during cross-examination on his second day of testimony, Valcke said he didn’t have anything to reproach himself about.

“I only wanted to make sure that those around me” who might get dragged into this unfairly “would be protected,” he said.

The trial is the first in Switzerland to shed light on how Valcke and other senior FIFA officials were striking deals for media rights to the soccer tournaments around the globe that earn FIFA hundreds of millions of dollars. The scale of the money flowing between the sport’s governing body and its business partners became public after American and Swiss prosecutors opened probes into corruption allegations at FIFA in 2015.

Earlier on Wednesday, Valcke told the court a 500,000-euro ($593,000) payment that he was accused of accepting as a bribe from the Greek businessman was actually a loan. Valcke said he needed help to cover more than 10 million Swiss francs ($11 million) in personal debt. He had previously told Swiss prosecutors during interviews in 2017 that his debts were closer to 4 million francs.

His bank, Credit Suisse Group AG, “wouldn’t give me a cent more,” Valcke told authorities in 2017 testimony read out in court Wednesday. “I don’t have a lot of people I can ask money from. I had to find someone who would lend me money, so I asked Dinos.”

Valcke was in the administration of FIFA head Joseph “Sepp” Blatter, who ended up resigning. Most of FIFA’s board was replaced after the bribery probes and a series of early morning raids in high-end hotels near its headquarters.

In April 2014, Valcke wrote to Deris, asking for a second loan after having secured an initial 500,000 euros.

“Hi Dinos, One question,” he wrote in the email shown as evidence to the court on Wednesday. “Long story short. I have to find 1 million euros !! Can you make me a loan payable back either next December on our future business.”

Valcke told the court his debts stemmed from the purchase of two homes in Switzerland worth 7 million francs as well as a 34-meter (112-foot) boat valued at more than 2 million francs. He also stands accused of aggravated criminal mismanagement related to his failure to tell FIFA about financial help he received to buy a third property, a villa in Sardinia.

Valcke told the court he rejected the allegation of bribery and had never accepted money, other than a loan from the Greek.

“I didn’t arrange a corrupt deal with Dinos Deris,” he said. Still, the court learned on Wednesday that Valcke was aware his behavior with Deris was viewed suspiciously.

In a February 2014, Valcke emailed Deris, saying he had been told that morning that some people “are asking questions about you and why I protect you.”

Deris is charged with bribery for 1.25 million euros he allegedly paid Valcke in exchange for favorable treatment of his bid for Greek and Italian media rights for 12 years of tournaments.

Deris isn’t attending the trial because he is unwell, said his lawyer Alec Reymond but the judges decided he will face prosecution in absentia. Reymond said the whole trial is flawed and argued unsuccessful that it should be delayed because of an ongoing scandal involving Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber’s undocumented meetings with FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

Lauber resigned his post in July and is likely facing a criminal probe over the meetings he held with Infantino as part of his investigation into corruption at the organization. A specially-appointed prosecutor is already investigating Infantino.

FIFA has said the meetings were legitimate and legal. Lauber said he accepted a Swiss court’s sanction of him in July but “rejected the accusation of lying.”

Nasser Al-Khelaifi, chairman of BeIn Media Group, is accused of inciting Valcke to not tell FIFA about help he received from the Qatari to buy the Sardinian villa. At issue is whether Al-Khelaifi directly helped Valcke to buy the villa and use it for free given that BeIn Media was the sole bidder for the Middle Eastern media rights to the 2026 and 2030 World Cups.

A rental contract for the villa was signed by Abdelkader Bessedik, an associate of Al-Khelaifi, according to news reports. Al-Khelaifi is also chairman of Paris Saint-Germain, one of France’s biggest soccer teams.

The court on Wednesday was shown a BlackBerry Messenger message Valcke sent to his wife and an email he sent to the broker for the villa indicating that Al-Khelaifi was the buyer. Al-Khelaifi responded that he hadn’t sent the BlackBerry message to Valcke and had never spoken to the broker.

The verdict is to be issued on October 30 per an announcement by the court, today.
« Last Edit: September 24, 2020, 12:41:18 PM by asylumseeker »

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #711 on: September 24, 2020, 12:40:14 PM »
Swiss parliament picks special prosecutor for FIFA case duty
The Index Journal


The Swiss parliament appointed special prosecutor Stefan Keller on Wednesday to investigate former attorney general Michael Lauber for his meetings with FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

Criminal proceedings were opened against Infantino in July when Keller said he found “elements that make up reprehensible behavior” linked to meetings with Lauber in 2016 and 2017.

Swiss lawmakers had previously met Keller’s request to lift the immunity from prosecution from which Lauber had benefited in the job he left last month.

In a vote Wednesday, lawmakers confirmed Keller as the only candidate for the investigative role over Lauber, who led a long-running and ongoing series of criminal proceedings linked to international soccer officials.

Lauber was recused from the FIFA investigation last year and disciplined in March amid fallout from media reports which revealed the Infantino meetings where neither took notes. Both have said they cannot recall details of their June 2017 meeting.

Lauber now faces questioning for potential abuse of public office and breach of official secrecy.

Infantino and a Swiss regional prosecutor, his childhood friend Rinaldo Arnold, are suspected of inciting Lauber. They all deny wrongdoing.

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #712 on: November 06, 2020, 09:45:37 AM »
New FIFA laws will see agents' transfer earnings published
SportsPro Media


The sport's global governing body has begun a third round of consultation on the new regulations, after admitting it had been a 'mistake' by the old Fifa regime to deregulate agents in 2015.

The regulations will include a licensing system, character tests, commission caps and the publication by Fifa of the money agents receive from their clients – both players and clubs.

It will also prohibit conflicts of interest, such as club or national association officials owning stakes in player agencies. It has been reported that Fosun, owners of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers, hold a stake in super-agent Jorge Mendes’ firm Gestifute via a subsidiary, which would be in breach of the rules when they come in.

Agents will be consulted between now and the spring of 2021, and they will all receive the draft regulations and be asked for feedback. The regulations will then go forward for Fifa's governing council to approve between March and June next year before coming into force in September.

The rules eliminate triple representation – where an agent represents the player, the buyer and the seller – and also place a ban on dual representation, except where the agent represents the player and the buying club.

Fifa has acted to stop what it sees as 'excessive and abusive' practices among agents.

Commission will be capped at three per cent of a player’s salary when representing a player, three per cent of a player’s salary when representing the buyer and six per cent when the same agent represents both the player and the buyer.

An agent representing a selling club can earn a maximum of ten per cent of the transfer value.

Ultimately, Fifa intends that these commissions will not be paid directly from a client to an agent, but instead go through a clearing house system.

Fifa found that in 2019, just under UK£500 million (US$651 million) was spent on commission fees worldwide.

There will be no cap on any other services they charge clients for. Representation agreements will be allowed to run for a maximum of two years, and it will be a breach of the regulations for an agent to approach a player under such an agreement before it enters its final two months.

Asked why the only cap was on commission, Fifa director of soccer regulatory James Kitching said: “It’s a matter of perception.

“If I’m telling somebody, ‘I’ll take ten per cent’ somebody might think that’s a small number and that’s fine.

“But if it’s ten per cent of UK£20 million, that changes the perception. We need to change the perception and the activity in the market.

“Many of the practices which we describe as excessive and abusive derive from the types of commission payments that we’re describing right now. What we’re trying to do is bring in basic service standards.

“I’m not saying large numbers automatically lead to abusive practices, but an agent who acts on your behalf has a fiduciary duty to act in your best interests. Sometimes big numbers may cause an agent to not act in the best interests of the client.”

Fifa believes its regulations will stand up to EU antitrust law, amid expected challenges over restraint of trade from agents.

Kitching said while existing representation agreements would be able to run their natural course beyond the date when the new regulations come in, he said there would be no transition period over conflicts of interest.

“There’s enough time between when the regulations have passed the Council for anything which is in violation of the regulations to be corrected in our view,” he said.

The rules will also bar family members from acting for a player in transfer deals unless the family member is a licensed agent.


Offline Flex

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #713 on: November 22, 2020, 03:26:39 PM »
Urling: T&T, C'bean nations need proper CFU representation
By Walter Alibey (T&T Guardian).


FIFA must increase funding for CFU

Clinton Urling, former chairman of the 2014 FIFA Normalisation Committee appointed in Guyana.

Former chairman Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Normalisation Committee, Clinton Urling, is calling for proper representation from the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) if countries like T&T and other regional nations are to combat the issues of finance they are all susceptible too.

Urling who bashed the T&T Football Association's (TTFA) executive for its role in challenging the FIFA for appointing a Normalisation Committee to manage the sport in the country in March, said the time has come for CFU administrators to not just appear at CONCACAF and FIFA meetings and say nothing, but to highlight the financial difficulties regional Member Associations face on a daily basis, and still attempt to compete at international tournaments.

"The reality is, and this is the problem with Caribbean football, not just Trinidad or Guyana, the ability to generate significant funding, is far deficient compared to the ability to pay or to run programmes effectively. To run a football programme for a country and engage in all these requirements, because every country has requirements, you have to engage in compulsory international tournaments and so on, and the cost of pulling those off, out-weighs the ability of the association to raise funds to do that," Urling said.

He noted further: "Even with the subventions coming from FIFA it is still not enough, and that's the problem I have with Caribbean football, we have a lot of these guys, they end up going to CONCACAF and they sit on these boards and they are happy they got positions and they get to travel, but nobody is out there lobbying and talking these things that I am telling you now.

"These federations, they just can't survive, in fact, all of them are in debt, not just Trinidad but almost all of them. And if they are not in debt the programmes have to suffer because you really can't afford to pull them off the way you should, to compete globally and internationally. And until the Caribbean gets effective representation at CONCACAF and at FIFA, that will always be an issue.

"Even if this Normalisation Committee pays the whole debt off, fixes the constitution, change everything there would still be a problem. Trinidad has one of the better football programmes, if not the best in the Caribbean. The players are international players and so forth, and for Trinidad to pull off all the different teams from the various age groups and levels, and then you have grassroots and beach football and all these different things, that subvention can't do anything.

"And now it's exacerbated with COVID-19 for all the territories, so I really hope that Caribbean football gets people who are serious about leading and not just showing up at these things, but advocating to say look we need change and more subventions should be coming to federations across the region."

Urling explained that the GFF is still in huge debt from its participation at the 2018 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

FIFA provides annual subventions of US$1.2 million to its member associations and according to a newspaper report recently, at the TTFA, more than 50 per cent of it is used to pay salaries etc.

Only last week, the TTFA was accepted back into the fold of FIFA after serving a nearly two-month suspension for violation of the FIFA Statutes that prevented the country from participation at FIFA-sanctioned regional and international events.

Its decision to lift the suspension on November 19 came with a huge sigh of relief, after desperate efforts from the membership of the local football and the Court of Appeal to honour the requests of FIFA.

It means also that FIFA-appointed normalisation committee which has a mandate to: run the TTFA's daily affairs; to establish a debt repayment plan that is implementable by the TTFA; to review and amend the TTFA Statutes (and other regulations where necessary) and to ensure their compliance with the FIFA Statutes and requirements before duly submitting them for approval to the TTFA Congress, and to organise and to conduct elections of a new TTFA Executive Committee for a four-year mandate, is now well in trained.

The TTFA has been saddled with a debt of between $50-$80 million, which is expected to be cleared by FIFA. Urling though said he is unsure of whether that debt will be cleared by FIFA or what decision will be put towards it, as he described it as a huge debt.

In a Guardian Media Sports report, some two weeks ago a source revealed that FIFA was expected to cover the debt in full via a loan to the TTFA and deduct it from the yearly subvention.

Urling believes the FIFA should implement review committees for each territorial administration to overlook the programmes and keep the executives in check.

« Last Edit: November 22, 2020, 03:34:03 PM by Flex »
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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #714 on: November 24, 2020, 05:44:31 AM »
Adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee sanctions Ahmad Ahmad
FIFA Media Release


The adjudicatory chamber of the independent Ethics Committee has found Ahmad Ahmad, the President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and a FIFA Vice-President, guilty of having breached art. 15 (Duty of loyalty), art. 20 (Offering and accepting gifts or other benefits) and art. 25 (Abuse of position) of the 2020 edition of the FIFA Code of Ethics, as well as art. 28 (Misappropriation of funds) of the 2018 edition.

The investigation into Mr Ahmad’s conduct in his position as CAF President during the period from 2017 to 2019 concerned various CAF-related governance issues, including the organisation and financing of an Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca, his involvement in CAF’s dealings with the sports equipment company Tactical Steel and other activities.

In its decision, following an extensive hearing, the adjudicatory chamber ruled that, based on information gathered by the investigatory chamber, Mr Ahmad had breached his duty of loyalty, offered gifts and other benefits, mismanaged funds and abused his position as the CAF President, pursuant to the FIFA Code of Ethics.

Consequently, the adjudicatory chamber found that Mr Ahmad had breached arts 15, 20 and 25 of the current edition of the FIFA Code of Ethics, as well as art. 28 of the 2018 edition, and sanctioned him with a ban from all football-related activity (administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international level for five years. In addition, a fine in the amount of CHF 200,000 has been imposed on Mr Ahmad.

The terms of the decision were notified to Mr Ahmad today, the date on which the ban comes into force. In accordance with art. 78 par. 2 of the FIFA Code of Ethics, the full, motivated decision will be notified to Mr Ahmad in the next 60 days, after which it will be published on legal.fifa.com.


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FIFA extends exemptions for players to skip national call-up
« Reply #715 on: February 07, 2021, 08:48:01 AM »
FIFA extends exemptions for players to skip national call-up
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/fifa-extends-exemptions-players-skip-170745341.html

FIFA extended an easing of its rules on Friday that frees clubs during the coronavirus pandemic from obligations to release all players to national teams.

The decision came with 135 national teams set to play World Cup qualifying games in March, and 48 more playing African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The scheduled games involve more than 3,000 players -- many with clubs in Europe -- set to fly around the world to join national teams.

Players who face mandatory quarantine of at least five days on any part of their intended journey, or government-imposed border restrictions that do not exempt professional sports, can be excused call-ups by their national team.

The exemptions were introduced late last year as international soccer resumed amid a backlog of World Cup qualifiers in Asia and South America. Only one game was played in Asia in the whole of 2020.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said this week at a World Health Organization briefing in Geneva that no health risks would be taken trying to fulfil all the fixtures.
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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #716 on: March 15, 2021, 10:04:09 PM »
Véron Mosengo-Omba appointed CAF General Secretary
FIFA News


FIFA confirms that Véron Mosengo-Omba will leave his role as Chief Officer of the FIFA member associations (MAs) division with immediate effect to take on the position of CAF General Secretary.

Mr Mosengo-Omba initially joined FIFA in 2016 as Regional Member Associations Director with responsibility for Africa and the Caribbean, and subsequently spent the past two years supporting all FIFA 211 MAs to implement the FIFA Forward development programme, as well as managing relationships with all FIFA MAs and continental confederations in his role as Chief Officer of the division.

A native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mr Mosengo-Omba was particularly involved in supporting the 54 African MAs in their FIFA Forward projects, in the development of youth and women’s football throughout the continent, and in the recent implementation of the FIFA Covid-19 Relief Plan.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino and FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura issued a joint statement expressing their gratitude for the work that Mr Mosengo-Omba has overseen at FIFA.

“On behalf of all of FIFA, we would like to thank Véron Mosengo-Omba for his excellent work and wish him the very best of luck in his next challenge as CAF General Secretary," it read. "FIFA also looks forward to working with him on future projects in helping to project African football to the summit of world football.”

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #717 on: March 16, 2021, 05:25:56 AM »
Quite the reward.

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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #718 on: August 19, 2021, 05:28:49 AM »
Guilty plea possible from El Salvador ex-soccer chief in FIFA corruption probe
By Jonathan Stempel, Reuters


The former president of El Salvador's soccer federation may enter a guilty plea next Monday over his alleged role in a sprawling corruption probe surrounding FIFA and other soccer governing bodies, court records show.

A change-of-plea hearing has been scheduled in the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn for Reynaldo Vasquez, the former president of the Federacion Salvadorena de Futbol (FESFUT), or the Salvadoran Football Federation.

Vasquez, who led FESFUT in 2009 and 2010, had in January pleaded not guilty to charges including racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering.

U.S. prosecutors have said Vasquez accepted bribes from a company called Media World, in exchange for helping arrange media rights to qualifier matches for the 2014 World Cup.

He was also accused of involvement in a bribery scheme to arrange friendly matches involving the men's national soccer teams of El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala.

A lawyer for Vasquez did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Vasquez's plea was not discussed at a Tuesday conference concerning several defendants before U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen in Brooklyn.

Vasquez was arrested in December 2015 after first being charged. He was extradited in January from El Salvador, where he had been serving an eight-year sentence for fraud. read more

FIFA banned Vasquez for life and fined him 500,000 Swiss francs in October 2019 after an internal ethics committee found him guilty of bribery.

Since the U.S. Department of Justice unveiled the corruption probe in 2015, more than 40 defendants have been criminally charged, and at least 30 have pleaded guilty.

Two defendants, former Brazilian soccer chief Jose Maria Marin and former CONMEBOL head Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay, were convicted at trial in 2017.


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Re: FIFA News Thread.
« Reply #719 on: July 24, 2022, 09:20:13 AM »
At 6:01 am tomorrow (T&T time), there could be another Normalization Committee instituted within the CONCACAF region. The Gov't of El Salvador "played smart" and took a leaf out of FIFA's playbook in imposing a "Normalizing Committee" on the Salvadoran federation. Unsurprisingly, FIFA --- not favorable to governments batting on its wicket --- issued an ultimatum.

So, come Monday anything El Salvador football could be out in the cold. 

Take a peak at the pro league schedule in El Salvador and you'll find that the matches are postponed.

Apparently it doesn't sit well for an Attorney General to issue an order to raid a federation's offices.  :devil:

 

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