Fifa graft whistleblower Chuck Blazer is dead
LAWYERS LAUD HIS ‘POSITIVE IMPACT’ DESPITE CORRUPT PAST
Corrupt football official-turned-whistle-blower Chuck Blazer, whose evidence helped trigger the Fifa bribery scandal, died on Wednesday, his lawyers said.
Blazer, who was banned for life from all football activities for corruption in 2015, had been battling cancer up to his death. He was 72.
“We are truly saddened by the passing of our client and friend, Chuck Blazer,” his lawyers said in a statement.
“His misconduct, for which he accepted full responsibility, should not obscure Chuck’s positive impact on international soccer,” the statement added.
The bearded, hulking football official was a pivotal figure in the corruption scandal, which convulsed Fifa in 2015 and ultimately led to the downfall of former supremo Sepp Blatter.
Yet for years Blazer himself was seen as emblematic of the worst excesses of Fifa during the Blatter era, unapologetically pocketing millions to fund a luxurious, globe-trotting VIP lifestyle.
Blazer had pleaded guilty in 2013 to charges of racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering and tax evasion as part of a web of corruption that spanned multiple decades.
“Chuck felt profound sorrow and regret for his actions,” his attorneys said Wednesday. “He expressed sincere remorse towards his former constituents and colleagues, and to all of the soccer players and fans disappointed by his conduct.”
While Fifa banned Blazer in 2015, he had in fact cut a deal to work with investigators years earlier, taking recording devices into meetings to help build a case against corrupt officials across the globe.
Blazer had risen to power through his work with Concacaf, the ruling body for football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, where he served as general secretary from 1990 until 2011. He was a member of Fifa’s corruption-tainted Executive Committee from 1996 to April 2013, when he was succeeded by US Soccer’s Sunil Gulati.
A 2013 report by Concacaf’s integrity committee said Blazer had received more than $20.6 million (Dh75.6 million) in commissions, fees and rental payments from the organisation between 1996 to 2011. Between 2004 and 2011, some $26 million of Concacaf expenses were charged to his personal American Express account.
Payoffs arrangement
Blazer was nicknamed “Mr Ten Percent” due to an arrangement he had with Concacaf, which granted him 10 per cent of the regional confederation’s revenues.
Blazer insisted the incredible sums he received were just reward for his work in helping to build the profile of football in the Concacaf region. “I spent 21 years building the confederation and its competitions and its revenues and I’m the one responsible for its good levels of income,” he once said.