Lord MacDonald of River Glaven, the former director of public prosecutions, called Fifa a “cesspit” following the disclosures and suggested that a “very serious crime” might have been committed. He added: “The fact that the allegation is that they used dollars, means that the Justice Department in Washington has jurisdiction over this… the United States of course are in the World Cup finals. If the Justice Department started to take an interest in this, I think Fifa would feel the heat very, very quickly.”