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This article is more than 5 years old

Fifa corruption arrests: key questions answered Read more

America’s top prosecutors on Wednesday accused nine senior current or former Fifa officials of “hijacking” international football to run “a World Cup of fraud” to line their pockets by $150m.

Loretta Lynch, the US attorney general, said the Fifa officials had allegedly run a “rampant, systemic and deep-rooted” scheme to “acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks”.

As she announced charges against the nine officials, seven of whom were arrested in dawn raids at a five-star hotel in Switzerland, Lynch said: “They were expected to uphold the rules that keep soccer honest, and protect the integrity of the game. Instead, they corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and enrich themselves.”

Lynch said the nine Fifa officials, including former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, and five sports marketing executives had run “a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer”.

She alleged that the bribery and corruption extended from the sale of TV rights to voting for which countries should be awarded the right to hold the World Cup and other tournaments.

“These individuals and organizations engaged in bribery to decide who would televise games; where the games would be held; and who would run the organization overseeing organized soccer worldwide,” Lynch said.

“They corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and enrich themselves. They did this over and over, year after year, tournament after tournament.”

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Lynch said she would seek the extradition of the men to the US to stand trial as soon as possible. If found guilty of racketeering, the most serious of the 47 charges, some of the men face up to 20 years in jail.

She refused to comment on whether Sepp Blatter, the current president of Fifa who is seeking re-election for a fifth term on Friday, would be subject to the far-reaching and ongoing investigation.

Lynch said Fifa would need to consider whether the World Cups in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, which have long been plagued with allegations of fraud, should go ahead as planned.

Kelly Curries, the acting US attorney for the eastern district of New York, said: “This is the beginning of our effort, not the end. We are looking into individuals and entities in a variety of countries.” There are 25 unnamed co-conspirators mentioned in the indictment, including people linked to the South Africa 2010 World Cup bid committee.

The charges were announced at a press conference in New York on Wednesday hosted by Lynch, who was flanked by senior officials from the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) criminal investigations unit.

Richard Weber, the chief investigator of the IRS criminal investigations unit, said: “This is really the World Cup of fraud and today we are issuing Fifa a red card,” adding: “The fans shouldn’t have to worry about officials corrupting their sport.”

James Comey, the director of the FBI, said the game had been “hijacked by corruption”.

The current or former Fifa officials charged are Eduardo Li, Jeffrey Webb, Eugenio Figueredo, Jack Warner, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, José Maria Marin and Nicolás Leoz. Warner and Leoz were not among those arrested in Switzerland; Leoz resigned as president of the South American Football Confederation in 2013, while Warner stood down from all international football positions in 2011.