Inglorious Blazer the source of FBI’s info
‘Co-conspirator’ turned spy to reveal inner workings at Fifa
CHUCK Blazer lived like a king off the beautiful game until the US taxman persuaded him to spy on his pals and lay bare an ugly corruption scandal that has rocked world soccer to the core.
Blazer, 70, is a “co-conspirator” cited in this week’s damning indictment by the US Department of Justice that claims a $10-million bribe greased Fifa bosses’ palms to vote in favour of South Africa hosting the 2010 World Cup.
His share of the loot, more than R9-million, was mere pocket change for the bushy-bearded and bespectacled Fifa executive whose Manhattan office featured a photograph of him seated next to Nelson Mandela in a cramped executive jet.
Blazer was described by the New York Daily News as a man who inhabited a “world of private jets, famous friends, secret island getaways, offshore bank accounts and so much fine food and drink that he eventually needed a fleet of mobility scooters to move from feast to feast”.
He rubbed shoulders with Russian president Vladimir Putin, the Clintons and British royalty. His blog records encounters with Madonna, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and a trip to Table Mountain during the 2010 World Cup.
During his two-decade reign as the most influential figure in US soccer, he served as the sidekick to disgraced Fifa vice-president Jack Warner — former president of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football.
Blazer, according to the indictment, learnt from Warner that “high-ranking officials of Fifa, the South African government and the South African bid committee . . . were prepared to arrange for the government of South Africa to pay $10-million” to the Caribbean Football Union to “support the African Diaspora”. He understood this to mean that Warner and other Fifa delegates would vote for South Africa, not Morocco, to host the 2010 World Cup, which they subsequently did.
An integrity investigation report, presented to Concacaf in April 2013, reveals how Blazer and his associates ran up personal and business expenses of $29-million in just seven years, using credit cards linked to his American Express account.
Blazer earned more than $21million between 1990 and 1998 through Concacaf.
The report, more than 100 pages long, reveals how Blazer siphoned soccer funds to subsidise the monthly rental of his two apartments on the 49th floor of the prestigious Trump Towers in New York, purchased a Hummer and made a down payment on an apartment in the Bahamas. He even secured health insurance for his girlfriend via Concacaf despite her not being an employee.
“The end result was that Blazer enriched himself for many years at Concacaf’s expense,” said the report.
Blazer’s flaunting of wealth proved to be an own goal. The FBI and US tax authorities in 2011 presented him with an offer he could not refuse. Confronted with evidence that he had failed to pay income tax for a decade, he was given an ultimatum — become an undercover agent or go to jail. The evidence he gathered has exposed the inner workings of an allegedly massive international soccer scandal.
Blazer resigned from Fifa under a cloud in 2013. He subsequently pleaded guilty to charges that include racketeering, money laundering and income tax evasion. He recently underwent treatment for cancer and, reports say, is playing his cards close to his chest about the unfolding scandal. “I just can’t talk about that,” he said.
The end result was that Blazer enriched himself for many years at Concacaf’s expense