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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

#51

Post by zimpenfish »

peteretep wrote: post #23
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…

> There's no way Blatter gets through this unscathed I suspect if you find a good online betting site, you would get someone to take the other side of that bet at attractive odds.

And if people have money to throw away like that, they could just as well throw it to my bank account.

As someone pointed out on Twitter, "oh look, the only people left to vote on Friday are Blatter-friendly".

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

#52

Post by jgreen10 »

hcho wrote: post #44
austenallred wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Specifically soccer-related infrastructure, i.e. stadiums. The United States could host four World Cups simultaneously without having to build any more stadiums. Qatar has to build almost everything from scratch.

Lack of infrastructure is not the crazy bit. Everyone knows that they have the money to throw at the problem. The fact that all games of WC will be played in one city is the problem. All the fans in contact for a prolonged span...It won't end well.

National football fans are not like club football fans. There is very little hooliganism in international football, nor would anyone have any energy for it in the searing heat.

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

#53

Post by splittist »

These are "FIFA Officials" in the same way that the representatives countries send to the UN are "UN Officials", or US Congressfolk are "US Officials". They aren't people who actually do the work at FIFA.

$150 million over 20 years for sports rights in Latin America seems to indicate pretty slim margins. I wonder what the deal was with bribes and kickbacks over the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup (i.e. South Africa)?

The defendants who have copped pleas are convicted of the made-up 'crimes' of e.g. "wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and the structuring of financial transactions". http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/nine-fifa-officials-and-five-c...

No doubt terrible things go on among the members and their representatives at FIFA (as they do at the UN). Perhaps someone could explain how to organise an international federation that prevents corruption in its member (i.e. owner) organisations.

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

#54

Post by aikah »

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…

/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.

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

#55

Post by koyote »

jgreen10 wrote: post #52
hcho wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lack of infrastructure is not the crazy bit. Everyone knows that they have the money to throw at the problem. The fact that all games of WC will be played in one city is the problem. All the fans in contact for a prolonged span...It won't end well.

National football fans are not like club football fans. There is very little hooliganism in international football, nor would anyone have any energy for it in the searing heat.

I would disagree, it might have been a while but there was quite a bit of hooliganism during the WC98 in France:

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/16/sports/world-cup-98-fans-s...

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

#56

Post by lmm »

austenallred wrote: post #41
Cyph0n wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what sense does Qatar have "no infrastructure"?

Specifically soccer-related infrastructure, i.e. stadiums. The United States could host four World Cups simultaneously without having to build any more stadiums. Qatar has to build almost everything from scratch.

If they're willing and able to build it, on time for the cup, that doesn't seem to inherently present a problem (notwithstanding issues about labour conditions etc., I'm talking specifically just about the "no infrastructure" point).

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

#58

Post by hcho »

austenallred wrote: post #49
hcho wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lack of infrastructure is not the crazy bit. Everyone knows that they have the money to throw at the problem. The fact that all games of WC will be played in one city is the problem. All the fans in contact for a prolonged span...It won't end well.

> Everyone knows that they have the money to throw at the problem. They may have money to throw at the problem, but Nepalese migrants building the infrastructure to host the 2022 World Cup died at a rate of almost one per day. Look at the full report, it's astounding: * Evidence of forced labour on a huge World Cup infrastructure project. * Some Nepalese men have alleged that they have not been paid for months and ha…

Yes, Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals had similar experiences. As a matter of fact they have been experiencing this for decades in the region. Have the wrong passport and you are a slave.

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

#59

Post by martijn_himself »

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…

Blatter has survived multiple arrests of senior FIFA officials in the past, there is no indication this time will be different.

The only way Blatter will step down is if a major football country association or group of associations (e.g. Germany, Spain, Holland) threaten to leave FIFA if he doesn't.

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

#60

Post by swombat »

iaw wrote: post #19
algo_cheese wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to the Swiss Federal Office of Justice, the bribery has occurred in the US and paid through US banks : The bribery suspects [...] are alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to the soccer functionaries [...] totaling more than USD 100 million. In return, it is believed that they received media, marketing, and sponsorship rights in connection with soccer tournaments in Latin America. Accord…

This makes a ton of sense now with the increased scrutiny of US financial institutions as of late.

Make no mistake: this is entirely about the lost 2022 bid.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10871114...

TL;DR: Don't piss off Bill Clinton.

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