I actually watched what’s his name who does “last week tonight” on HBO talk about this.
But how are these crimes against the US, that’s what I don’t understand.
According to the DOJ release, bribes were arranged and made on U.S. soil (the HQ of CONCACAF is in Miami and before that, New York) and that U.S. banks were used to transfer/launder the bribes.
That's the jurisdiction.
Based on info in the last couple of hours....FIFA gave Bill Clinton’s foundation $50k to $100k for ‘something’. It would be curious what a soccer organization would want and how it would relate to a favor to be paid back later. Oddly, the Qatar World Cup committee also came and laid down some money with the Bill Clinton foundation. News suggest between $250k and $500k that moved to the foundation from the Qatar committee.
Oddly, the suggested charges don’t go to Qatar but the Brazil games and the ‘94’ games in the US.
I think a lot of this is simply money that got moved around and avoided taxes. The fact that FIFA keeps its headquarters in Switzerland, with Swiss residency required of the VIPs and thus quick access to secret bank accounts....it all leads to some illegal business in the end.
Also, just noted that a US sports-wear company is discussed as part of the bribe process with the Brazilian national team (150-million mentioned as the profit from the deal), so I think there’s a bit more to the whole thing and will become complicated in a court to explain.
Saw a few minutes ago that the Swiss authorities want the head guy of FIFA to come in next week to answer some questions. Tax avoidance might be something they are curious about and where these guys got their money and how they held it.