Charges against nine Fifa officials and five sports business executives alleging “rampant, systemic and deep-rooted” corruption were announced by the US attorney general, Loretta Lynch, on Wednesday, with 47 counts including racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering.
The charges are detailed in an indictment unsealed after Swiss police swooped on a luxury hotel in Zurich, where Fifa officials had gathered ahead of the annual congress of football’s governing body.
Seven of those named in the indictment were arrested at the Baur en Lac hotel on Wednesday morning. Four more individuals and two corporations have already pleaded guilty, according to the US Department of Justice.
“The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States,” Lynch said.
“It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.”
The defendants are accused of corrupt practices dating back to 1991, particularly bribes and kickbacks from sports marketing firms trying to shut rivals out from lucrative tournament contracts, including the World Cup.
The sale of media and marketing rights to international tournaments accounts for the lion’s share of Fifa’s multibillion-dollar business. Fifa sells its rights to sports marketing companies, which in turn sell them on to TV and radio broadcast networks and sponsors.
According to the indictment, businessmen paid Fifa officials more than $150m (£98m) in bribes and kickbacks in an effort to corner the market.
Other alleged schemes relate “to the payment and receipt of bribes and kickbacks in connection with the sponsorship of CBF [the Brazilian football league] by a major US sportswear company, the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 Fifa presidential election,” the indictment said.
The nine Fifa officials named include Jeffrey Webb, a current Fifa vice-president who has been mooted as a future head of the organisation, to former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner, who quit his football roles, bringing an end to an investigation into bribery allegations, the governing body for football in north America.
Four sports marketing executives – one from the US and three from Argentina – were also named. One further defendant, José Margulies, a broadcasting executive, is accused of facilitating payments between executives and Fifa officials.
All the suspects have been involved in football in the Americas. (See here for full list). Fifa president Sepp Blatter, who was recently forced to deny he feared travelling to the US, was not named as a suspect.
The five defendants who have already pleaded guilty were also revealed. They include Charles Blazer, a former Concacaf general secretary and Fifa official, as well as Warner’s sons Daryll and Daryan Warner.
FBI director James Comey said: “As charged in the indictment, the defendants fostered a culture of corruption and greed that created an uneven playing field for the biggest sport in the world.
“Undisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks, and bribes became a way of doing business at Fifa. I want to commend the investigators and prosecutors around the world who have pursued this case so diligently, for so many years.”
All the defendants face potential 20-year sentences for the racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering and obstruction of justice charges, the DoJ said.
Fifa has long been accused of corruption. Acting US attorney Kelly Currie warned there could be more charges yet to come. “Let me be clear: this indictment is not the final chapter in our investigation,” she said.
