Posted on 05/26/2015 10:09:33 PM PDT by tcrlaf
Swiss authorities began an extraordinary early-morning operation here Wednesday to arrest several top soccer officials and extradite them to the United States on federal corruption charges.
As leaders of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, gathered for their annual meeting, more than a dozen plain-clothed Swiss law enforcement officials arrived unannounced at the Baur au Lac hotel, an elegant five-star property with views of the Alps and Lake Zurich.
The officers went to the registration desk to get keys, then headed upstairs toward the hotel rooms. One FIFA official was led by the authorities from his room to a side-door exit of the hotel. He was allowed to bring his luggage.
The charges allege widespread corruption in FIFA over the past two decades, involving bids for World Cups as well as marketing and broadcast deals, according to three law enforcement officials with direct knowledge of the case. The charges include wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering, and officials said they targeted members of FIFA’s powerful executive committee, which wields enormous power and does its business largely in secret.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
It’s a U.S. priority because they used the U.S. financial system to facilitate their illegal actions. Just because it’s not the “hot topic” of the day doesn’t mean we should let it slide.
Miami Beach offices of CONCACAF raided: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article22409883.html
Pathetic is right.
Disgusting, too.
actually reading around the web, it is a good diplomatic move. Most people hate FIFA, oh they love soccer, but they HATE FIFA. It’s pretty much a known thing that FIFA is corrupt to it’s core, but no soccer (football for all you free republic ex pats) loving nation will do anything for fear FIFA will punish them by stacking the deck against their team. USA doesn’t care. I have seen a lot of foreign twitter accounts and foreign media actually praising the US for this.
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