New York--The United States charged soccer officials Wednesday with corrupting a sport loved by billions, warning an investigation has just begun and seeking the extradition of suspects arrested in Switzerland.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch unveiled the complex international investigation spanning years, after seven soccer officials were arrested in Zurich in dawn raids by Swiss police acting at US request.
The 47-count US indictment charges 14 soccer officials and marketing executives with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies that span 24 years beginning in 1991.
The officials are charged with conspiring to solicit and receive more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for the support of US and South American sports marketing executives who agreed to make the illegal payments.
"They corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and to enrich themselves," Lynch told a packed news conference in New York.
"This Department of Justice is determined to end these practices to root out corruption and bring wrongdoers to justice."
Racketeering, the most serious charge, carries a maximum punishment of 20 years if defendants are convicted at trial. Other crimes in the indictment are punishable by up to five and 10 years in jail.
US officials would not be drawn on the possibility of future charges against other senior FIFA figures, and pointedly refused to answer questions about the body's president, Sepp Blatter.
"It's a significant step but I want to be very clear, this is the beginning of our effort not the end," said Kelly Currie, acting US attorney for the eastern district of New York.
AFP
