The Fifa Superthread; Corruption, Arrests and Sepp Blatter's Resignation!

Jelle1880

One of those arrested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVZbulmbsc4&feature=youtu.be

The cheek, did he really think nobody would notice ?

GLaDOS

A handy guide

https://twitter.com/richard_conway/status/603556684787785728

Polo_Mint

Live Stream

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/live---fifa-officials-arrested-5768773

snaps

Just a thought, i wonder who these guys were or would be voting for come friday? Perhaps they were voting for the prince but now out of the equation?

corny

"In the world of organised soccer...":D Americans are great for this stuff.

monkey9

This is brilliant! Hope there's some serious jail time for FIFA members, though I can't help feeling Blatter will get away with it.

It's just great to see something being done against one of the most corrupt organisations in the world.

Richard Hillman

Truly amazing. This is one of the most important days in the history of football.

FatherTed

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Truly amazing. This is one of the most important days in the history of football.

Yep. Sponsors are going to start dropping like flies especially the large US ones like Visa, McDonalds etc.

gosplan

In fairness to the states, they run, organise and ref their sports to a standard that world soccer could only dream of.

Cantstandsya

Yes vote last weekend and today the hammer falls on FIFA... I was gonna take it easy this weekend but I think I'll need to raise a pint to the FBI.

Kirby

gosplan wrote: »

In fairness to the states, they run, organise and ref their sports to a standard that world soccer could only dream of.

Thats because its easy when its one jurisdiction....your own. "World soccer" is exactly that....spanning the world. Meaning 200 different nations with different laws and numerous ways to hide your shady dealings.

Richard Hillman

FatherTed wrote: »

Yep. Sponsors are going to start dropping like flies especially the large US ones like Visa, McDonalds etc.

Its the sponsors that have been mainly implicated. The FIFA execs were taking money from the main sponsors.

JohnDaniels

This is obviously excellent. The press conference live at the moment is mind boggling viewing. They are openly dressing down FIFA.

I'm curious though, how do these DOJ guys operate? Are they a gang of people who sit around all day looking at evils in the world. One of them says, hey Ted lets have a go a that FIFA lot, they seem like corrupt ****ers? Off the investigation goes?

Cantstandsya

JohnDaniels wrote: »

This is obviously excellent. The press conference live at the moment is mind boggling viewing. They are openly dressing down FIFA.

I'm curious though, how do these DOJ guys operate? Are they a gang of people who sit around all day looking at evils in the world. One of them says, hey Ted lets have a go a that FIFA lot, they seem like corrupt ****ers? Off the investigation goes?

All my knowledge of US law enforcement comes from the Wire so I'm guessing some old fart in the DoJ didn't like that Sepp Blatter got the prime spot in the church for his stained glass window and, in retaliation, set his boys on FIFA.

Richard Hillman

JohnDaniels wrote: »

This is obviously excellent. The press conference live at the moment is mind boggling viewing. They are openly dressing down FIFA.

I'm curious though, how do these DOJ guys operate? Are they a gang of people who sit around all day looking at evils in the world. One of them says, hey Ted lets have a go a that FIFA lot, they seem like corrupt ****ers? Off the investigation goes?

They transfered money through the U.S and a lot of the U.S based sponsors are involved. Plus they mentioned something about the Copa America next year being held in the U.S

Kirby

"Sepp, were you taking notes on a motherf*cking criminal conspiracy?!?"

TheTownie

Audio of Loretta Lynch's opening statement here.

UnitedIrishman

Really hope this investigation really puts the hammer down now and doesn't stop until FIFA is completely cleared out. Real chance for change here and I hope this isn't just something that will peter out once the first guys on the ladder are removed.

That said - tell a 50 or 60 year old rich man that he's possibly going to spend the rest of his life in jail unless he talks, then I'd imagine he'll sing like a canary.

JohnDaniels

Richard Hillman wrote: »

They transfered money through the U.S and a lot of the U.S based sponsors are involved. Plus they mentioned something about the Copa America next year being held in the U.S

I had just tuned into the conference when he said something like, 'if you touch our shores with corruption be aware we will come after you'.

So they aren't some kind of world police? They are acting in American interest, it just happens to be of international interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhnUgAaea4M

alchemist33

Some info on the arrested officials, just so you know who's who

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-32897171

inforfun

Cantstandsya wrote: »

All my knowledge of US law enforcement comes from the Wire so I'm guessing some old fart in the DoJ didn't like that Sepp Blatter got the prime spot in the church for his stained glass window and, in retaliation, set his boys on FIFA.

InTheTrees

JohnDaniels wrote: »

So they aren't some kind of world police? They are acting in American interest, it just happens to be of international interest.

I have no doubt that the massive growth in popularity of football in the USA had something to do with it.

US soccer teams participate in the CONCACAF tournament which seems to be were the majority of the arrests have been made.

Wonderful that the US Internal Revenue Service is involved. Good lawyers can wriggle out of a lot of law enforcement in the US but when it comes to non payment of Taxes, you will get in deep ****.

UnitedIrishman

Taken from Reddit - this has instilled some confidence:

This is more than just a wild stab, this is the real deal. Federal criminal indictments have an astonishingly high conviction rate in this country, like over 80 93 percent. Because so much more is required of federal prosecutors. You can't just convince a federal judge that there is probable cause, like in state court. You have to win over a federal grand jury to get the indictment. Especially with corruption, conspiracy, racketeering, wire fraud-type cases, a federal prosecutor is not going to move forward on something this high profile without airtight evidence and testimony. There's probably reams and gigabytes of rock solid financial records and emails, I bet. The fact the Swiss are swiftly assisting with arrests and extradition seals it, for me.

There's also no parole in federal prison. And there are sentence enhancements to the moon for these kinds of white-collar crimes under federal sentencing guidelines.

TLDR - Blatter's boys are srsly ****ed. Srsly.

InTheTrees

I bet they're close on Blatter's tail.

Maybe he'll be pressured to step down from the election? Too much to hope for?

Icepick

UnitedIrishman wrote: »

Taken from Reddit - this has instilled some confidence:

The main reason why they have such a high success rate is actually settlements so very few go to court to start with.

abelard

I want to believe....

I just worry that Blatter is so teflon that nothing will stick. Hopefully this is a first step to the truth coming out though.

Richard Hillman

alchemist33 wrote: »

Some info on the arrested officials, just so you know who's who

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-32897171

A note from Jose Maria Marin

"When he took over as president of the Brazilian Football Confederation in 2012, journalists questioned him about a video which had emerged from a medal ceremony at a youth football tournament in Sao Paulo.The video appears to show Mr Marin pocketing a medal which should have been given to one of the winning players."




Stealing medals from children :pac::pac::pac:

InTheTrees

Icepick wrote: »

The main reason why they have such a high success rate is actually settlements so very few go to court to start with.

This will be very different. For a start the accused are going to be extradited to the US, which means court appearances in Switzerland as they try to fight that.

Then the accused will have major Tax charges that will probably suck up most of their ill gotten savings before they even hire a lawyer. I'd imagine any cash these people have saved in US bank accounts is already frozen.

InTheTrees

abelard wrote: »

I want to believe....

I just worry that Blatter is so teflon that nothing will stick. Hopefully this is a first step to the truth coming out though.

Incredible isnt it?

Any least ways reputable "leader" of an organization involved in such charges would resign immediately regardless of guilt and yet this fcuker gets to hang on and on and on? Wtf??

:mad:

thecretinhop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZYRDDukBMg

Resign does not come easy to these lads

Fr Tod Umptious

corny wrote: »

"In the world of organised soccer...":D Americans are great for this stuff.

What the fcuk are the yanks doing thus for an way.
Sure they haven't a clue about soccer.

I'm sure if you asked one of those prosecutors who Maradona was they would tell you she was a singer.

mikeym

FIFARCE :mad:

TheTownie

Russia not happy.

Agence France-Presse ‏@AFP 10m10 minutes ago
#BREAKING Russia slams 'illegal' use of US law in FIFA probe

'Beyond borders' - Russia is accusing the United States of illegally applying its legal force "far beyond its borders".

The Russian foreign ministry called it "another case of illegal exterritorial use of US law" and demanded in a statement that Washington "stops attempts to make justice far beyond its borders."

InTheTrees

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

What the fcuk are the yanks doing thus for an way.
Sure they haven't a clue about soccer.

I'm sure if you asked one of those prosecutors who Maradona was they would tell you she was a singer.

Its changing slowly. Very very slowly. Here in Seattle we average 35,000 attending home matches, thats up there with Spurs or Everton attendance numbers so thats not bad, but Seattle is at the top as regards attendance.

Average attendance in MLS (Major League Soccer) matches is about 19,000 which is as good as the brit championship division, so thats pretty good.

And as I wrote above the increased US Soccers teams participation in the Fifa CONCACAF competition must have played a part in prompting these investigations. How many years do these endless rumours of corruption go on for before someone investigates? How come nobody in Switzerland has been doing this?

Cantstandsya

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

What the fcuk are the yanks doing thus for an way.
Sure they haven't a clue about soccer.

I'm sure if you asked one of those prosecutors who Maradona was they would tell you she was a singer.

I think they're doing it because they've found strong evidence of corruption in FIFA?

"Hey Garda, why do you care that I burned down that bakery, you don't even like cakes!"

Lithium93_

TheTownie wrote: »

Russia not happy.

The U.S are hardly doing anything illegal, Russia should just unbunch their knickers and calm down.

JohnDaniels

Lithium93_ wrote: »

The U.S are hardly doing anything illegal, Russia should just unbunch their knickers and calm down.

Where is the next world cup?

Lithium93_

JohnDaniels wrote: »

Where is the next world cup?

It's in Russia, but i don't see what today's events have to do with that.

Oat23

Russia talking about borders is hilarious.

JohnDaniels

Lithium93_ wrote: »

It's in Russia, but i don't see what today's events have to do with that.

err, oh, ahh. Sorry I have nothing.

Lithium93_

Oat23 wrote: »

Russia talking about borders is hilarious.

Very pot kettle black on Russia's part to be talking about borders.

InTheTrees

Lithium93_ wrote: »

It's in Russia, but i don't see what today's events have to do with that.

There's allegations (actual evidence?) now of corruption in the bidding process going back as far as the south african world cup.

While these types of cases are often politically-motivated one can only hope the Yanks go ahead and follow through on this. A shift in the balance of power in world football would be fantastic.
While it's still a work in progress, the growth of the sport in the US is still happening (baseball is losing, American Football is barely played beyond 18, ice hockey is niche in many areas) and the Yanks (government, football officials, clubs owners etc.) are going to be looking for what they perceive as a fairer playing field everywhere.

Godot.

Would be hilarious if the World Cup hosting process was re-run only for England to lose again, this time to Spain/Portugal. All this digging would turn out to be absolutely pointless for them

eagle eye

I really hope one of those arrested has dirt on Blatter. I can imagine it all unfolding now,

'We have you for fraud, bribery and lots of other stuff, you are going down for 40 years unless you have something you can give us. Give us Blatter and we'll recommend that you seve no time'

Headshot

Its a great day for the soccer world. Finally we see arrests being made for most corrupt organisation in the world.

To round it off for me is to see Blatter being arrested and the WC taken from Russia

InTheTrees

Deleted User wrote: »

While these types of cases are often politically-motivated one can only hope the Yanks go ahead and follow through on this.

I think they will. They must have accumulated a convincing amount of evidence to be able to justify the arrests to the Swiss authorities. The swiss wouldnt have cooperated in raiding (a swiss-based organization) unless there was some very good reasons.

bucketybuck

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Its the sponsors that have been mainly implicated. The FIFA execs were taking money from the main sponsors.

Which is why they will all walk away, whistling and hoping that nobody looks too closely at them. Bad enough to have a scandal, to have that scandal be directly linked to sponsors will mean even the innocent sponsors won't want to be tarnished by association.

Hopefully.

ShoulderChip

Fingers crossed the 2018 world cup gets moved to england.

Hank Scorpio

Figo must feel awfully smug right now