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FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges; Face Extradition to U.S

nytimes.com

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Re: FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges; Face Extradition to U.S

#201

Post by tdkl »

lordnacho wrote: post #165
Bud wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, recent experience with Olympics and World Cups alike shows that the stadiums often lie fallow, a complete waste of resources. Promised "transport improvements" are often never built in the first place, or built at a level far below what was promised to local residents. Tourism money fails to recoup what was invested.

Exactly. The World Cup being what it is could be played in a public park, and people would still skip their kid's birth to watch it. And yet FIFA insists on a bunch of expensive stadiums each time.

> And yet FIFA insists on a bunch of expensive stadiums each time.

Of course, they can easily demand mad money for entry tickets this way.

Re: FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges; Face Extradition to U.S

#202

Post by deskamess »

_nedR wrote: post #191
austenallred wrote: post #22

It seems like the DOJ is doing the same thing they would do against a gang; get a few lower-level people to take a plea deal and hand over the kingpin. There's no way Blatter gets through this unscathed. It will be interesting to see if the World Cup will be moved now; it never made sense to have it in Qatar in the first place (no infrastructure, incredibly hot during the summer, hundreds of migrant workers dying and…

Funny, that everyone seems to miss the fact that the current indictments actually relate to corruption w.r.t. the previous tournaments and world cups hosted in USA, South America and South Africa. Nobody in /r/soccer seems to care about that. Of course, don't let the facts get in the way of all the Qatar/Russia bashing.

There is a tradition of corruption when it comes to world cup hosting. These are the events for which the JD feels it has evidence and for which a claim could be made about the involvement of US financial institutions (hence localizing the corruption on US soil).

It does not mean Qatar/Russia campaigns were corruption free. They do not have the evidence for it, or have not yet found a localization (US) vector that could aid in prosecution. My personal opinion is there was corruption (as normal) for both Russia and Qatar, but especially Qatar. The Jeremy Schapp ESPN documentary gives you a peek into things, including the bribing of local African football association officials.

Re: FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges; Face Extradition to U.S

#203

Post by dragonwriter »

lordnacho wrote: post #167

One thing I don't get is why this form of corruption is illegal. FIFA is a sort of international club, right? If I make an international group for the placement of Tiddlywinks world cups, and I make some internal rules for it, why does the state care how the politics turns out? Is it illegal to bribe someone making some private decision?

> FIFA is a sort of international club, right? If I make an international group for the placement of Tiddlywinks world cups, and I make some internal rules for it, why does the state care how the politics turns out?

The state cares if the people who are officers of your club defraud your club of funds by directing funds from the club to third parties who provide kickbacks, contrary to their contract with your club, as part of the way that states generally are concerned with criminal frauds.

And they'll especially care about that if that fraud also appears likely to have disadvantaged an effort in which the state had interest that was dependent on decisions by your club.

> Is it illegal to bribe someone making some private decision?

It generally is illegal for a person making a decision as an agent of another private person to take a bribe and as a result to act in their own interest and contrary to the best interest of the person whose agent they are nominally acting as -- and note that, for legal purposes, a corporate entity like FIFA (or any of its subordinate clubs) is a distinct "person" from any of its officers.

Re: FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges; Face Extradition to U.S

#204

Post by supergirl »

austenallred wrote: post #195
supergirl wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversely, anyone can claim that any fact is "unfounded speculation". Yes, that was exactly my point. I have not seen any first hand evidence. None of us have, I would say. Or has it been released? Otherwise, it is slander.

Pointing out what allegations exist is not slander. Especially when specifically defining them as allegations.

Pointing out something is not slander, of course. But, what's the difference between slander and allegations? They both entail the same action: saying something bad without proving, no? Only in the end we will know.

Re: FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges; Face Extradition to U.S

#205

Post by JoeAltmaier »

supergirl wrote: post #204
austenallred wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pointing out what allegations exist is not slander. Especially when specifically defining them as allegations.

Pointing out something is not slander, of course. But, what's the difference between slander and allegations? They both entail the same action: saying something bad without proving, no? Only in the end we will know.

In one case (slander) you say it as if its true. In the other its qualified. They are very different! Be fair.

Re: FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges; Face Extradition to U.S

#206

Post by Carrok »

gmisra wrote: post #200

For those of you who, like me, don't know much about the background and context, Bloomberg Business recently did an in-depth piece on Blatter and his ascension: http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-sepp-blatter-fifa/

For those of you who don't like reading, John Oliver did a fantastic segment on FIFA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlJEt2KU33I

Re: FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges; Face Extradition to U.S

#207

Post by notsony »

hvs wrote: post #139
notsony wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FIFA is not a public institution, it's a private association. How a private club wants to structure payments is entirely up to them. So how will any bribery charges stick, unless public officials have been paid off? Can't believe Blatter and his cronies would be so stupid, but perhaps some of the weaker and greedier executives were, so Blatter is happy to serve them up?

I'm guessing the DOJ has something figured out.

Authorities accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the IMF, of raping a maid in a New York hotel and made him do the perp walk in front of the cameras. What happened in the end? Career ruined but all charges dropped.

Re: FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges; Face Extradition to U.S

#208

Post by dragonwriter »

protomyth wrote: post #107
tomjen3 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I don't get what does the DOJ have to do with FIFA? As far as I know it is an international group and Qatar is not a US state.

I'm in the same boat. I get prosecuting the US citizens who paid bribes (long history there), but I don't get how the US can go after foreign nationals not on US soil for something that was done outside the US and not an attack on the US. I really don't understand why a country would extradite them in the first place. We can get FIFA, but we cannot get Roman Polanski?

> I don't get how the US can go after foreign nationals not on US soil for something that was done outside the US and not an attack on the US.

Here:

(1) Several of the charged principals are US persons (individuals or corporations),

(2) All of the other principals are charged with conspiracy with the charged US persons,

(3) Several of the charged acts took place in the US or by means of US institutions,

(4) Several of the charged persons, and the various properties allegedly illegally acquired through the illegal acts and against which criminal forfeiture is sought, are within the US.

(5) Also, the main charges are not paying bribes, but receiving/profiting from the bribes (constituting fraud against various organizations, money laundering to conceal the proceeds, etc.)

Re: FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges; Face Extradition to U.S

#209

Post by astrodust »

notsony wrote: post #125
austenallred wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turns out crimes aren't mutually exclusive. Not sure that prosecuting a crime is a "false flag" either.

Your first point is of course true. Your second point about "false flag" makes no sense whatsoever. EDIT: This is why HackerNews is going to the dogs. This perfectly reasonable comment has been downvoted numerous times.

Your comment is completely off-topic and irrelevant. It's not like the US can only investigate one crime at a time.

Re: FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges; Face Extradition to U.S

#210

Post by smutticus »

SEJeff wrote: post #88
aikah wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

/s/hundreds/thousands working under the kalafa , the euphemism for slavery in middle east. Slavery exists everywhere(yes even in Europe and US) but it's generally not something organized at the state level, it is usually illegal.

Where does slavery exist in the US? You know we had a war about that an all... It didn't end up super well for the slavers.

Good general overview of prison labor: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/04/04/prison-labor...

More detailed account of prison labor in Nevada regarding casinos and construction. http://vltp.net/casinos-prison-labor-strange-bedfellows/

The slave market: http://www.unicor.gov/

You can even get slave labor to operate your call center: http://www.unicor.gov/services/contact_helpdesk/

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