‘THE WITCH IS DEAD’
Soccer world celebrates Blatter’s resignation: Coverage,
FROM THE MOMENT federal agents collared FIFA executive Chuck Blazer on a Manhattan street in November of 2011 as he tooled down Fifth Ave. on his motorized scooter, they had one goal in mind: They wanted information that would deliver FIFA president Sepp Blatter to United States prosecutors.
The mountain of financial documents, bank records, guest lists and tape recordings the former FIFA executive handed over to the United States government led to the 47-count indictment unsealed last week by Attorney General Loretta Lynch and other Justice Department officials. Blatter was not named in that indictment, but the evidence provided by Blazer is the linchpin that led to the FIFA chief’s resignation Tuesday.
“Blazer was critically important. He is the central building block of the entire investigation,” defense lawyer John Lauro, a former prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York, which led the massive investigation, told the Daily News. “The fact they moved now suggests the investigation is a mature investigation.”
Blatter’s sudden and surprising resignation as president of FIFA — the announcement came just four days after he was re-elected for a fifth term — indicates the immense pressure he faced not only from the U.S. Department of Justice but from FIFA officials, regional federation executives and his advisers in the international soccer community.
Swiss officials said last week that a separate investigation, focused on alleged improprieties involving the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments, had led investigators to seize documents and records from FIFA’s offices. They said Tuesday their investigation centers on criminal mismanagement and money laundering, and while a statement issued by the Office of the Attorney General said it is not investigating Blatter and that his resignation will have no influence on the ongoing probe, Swiss investigators may have recently questioned Blatter. Their line of questioning may also have been a factor in his decision to step down.
“There was just too much pressure,” one source who is familiar with the long-running federal probe out of the Eastern District said. “To see everything you’ve built crumble because of your arrogance, no one wants that. It was more than just Blatter — it was all of FIFA. He had to be thinking, ‘I might take it all down.’ ”
Blatter’s sudden resignation Tuesday in no way marks the end of the soccer corruption case in the United States, either. Lynch and other Justice Department officials stressed when they unsealed the indictment last week that the investigation is ongoing, and one former Brooklyn federal prosecutor familiar with the case told The News that dozens of FIFA officials and sports marketing executives will face charges in the near future.
Lauro said it appears the feds have already flipped a number of soccer insiders who are eager to talk in order to avoid prosecution or in exchange for lenient sentences.
“What’s apparent to me is prosecutors have other cooperators and are moving up the chain as quickly as possible,” Lauro said. “I assume a message is being sent — now is the time to come in and cooperate against the top guy.”
Blatter may have announced his resignation because he suspects he is a target, according to David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Miami.
“I find it hard to believe that is not where they are heading with this investigation,” Weinstein said. “I was not surprised he was not named in the first indictment. You start from the bottom and move up.”
The bottom began when Blazer was intercepted by FBI and IRS agents as he left his Trump Tower apartment headed for dinner at a Manhattan restaurant, accompanied by two friends in late fall of 2011. By then Blazer was deep into the coffers of CONCACAF, the North American and Caribbean soccer federation that he ran as the organization’s secretary general, along with his colleague, the federation’s former president, Jack Warner of Trinidad. Warner was named in last week’s indictment. His sons, Daryan and Daryll Warner, have already pleaded guilty to a variety of charges, including money laundering and wire fraud, as well as to World Cup ticket scalping in the case.
Newly unsealed documents describe how Blazer abused his position as a FIFA executive for decades, coordinating bribers on votes for the World Cup tournament, and taking kickbacks for media rights on other soccer tournaments. Court papers unsealed last week show that Blazer pleaded guilty in November of 2013 to racketeering, fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and other charges.
The 164-page indictment made public last week is clearly based on a great deal of information Blazer provided to the feds: It outlines the alleged criminal activities of several people listed on a confidential document The News viewed last year — a roster of 44 top sports officials whose phone calls and emails were intercepted by U.S. law enforcement.
Blazer and Warner, once allies, split after a FIFA official from Qatar offered CONCACAF delegates envelopes containing $40,000 each in 2011, an attempt to buy their votes in FIFA’s presidential election. Blazer, fearing he would be dragged into the vote-buying scandal as a co-conspirator, reported the possible violation by Warner and others to FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke.
Valcke, Blatter’s top lieutenant, now has his own problems: He was identified in media accounts as the high-ranking FIFA official who transferred $10 million into accounts controlled by Warner, who later shared some of the money with Blazer. The money was intended to persuade FIFA executives to support South Africa’s successful bid to host the 2010 World Cup. The indictment accuses Warner of accepting a $10 million bribe to deliver votes from the Caribbean for South Africa.
Valcke has denied any wrongdoing, but a source familiar with the ongoing investigation said he expects the Frenchman to be among those indicted when additional charges are filed. If Valcke is indicted, the source said, Blatter is in trouble.
“There are two people who can get Blatter — Warner and Valcke,” said the source.