CONCACAF president, Jeffery Webb and 14 others are being indicted for racketeering, fraud and money laundering following a raid in Switzerland, the United State Department of Justice (DoJ) has confirmed.
The International law enforcement collaboration had swooped in at the hotel where officials were staying for the 65th FIFA congress, Hotel Bauer au Lac in Zurich .
"A 47-count indictment was unsealed early this morning in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging 14 defendants with racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies, among other offenses, in connection with the defendants’ participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer. The guilty pleas of four individual defendants and two corporate defendants were also unsealed today," explained a DoJ release.
"The defendants charged in the indictment include high-ranking officials of Fifa, the organisation responsible for the regulation and promotion of soccer worldwide, as well as leading officials of other soccer governing bodies that operate under the Fifa umbrella. Jeffrey Webb and Jack Warner – the current and former presidents of Concacaf, the continental confederation under Fifa headquartered in the United States – are among the soccer officials charged with racketeering and bribery offenses."
The detainees were led out of the hotel as police covered up their faces and led them to the waiting car
The world governing body's president, Sepp Blatter was not arrested , but the US Federal office of Justice (FoJ) have revealed that six other figures are yet to be questioned over fraud following the Wednesday arrest.
"By order of the FOJ, six soccer officials were arrested in Zurich on Wednesday and detained pending extradition," a statement from Zurich police confirmed.
"The US authorities suspect them of having received bribes totalling in the millions of US dollars. The FOJ's arrest warrants were issued further to a request by the US authorities.
"The US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York is investigating these individuals on suspicion of the acceptance of bribes and kick-backs between the early 1990s and the present day.
"The bribery suspects - sports media and promotion representatives - are alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to the soccer functionaries (delegates of Fifa and its sub-organisations) totalling more than 100 million US dollars.
"In return, it is believed that they received media, marketing, and sponsorship rights in connection with soccer tournaments in Latin America. According to the US request, these crimes were agreed and prepared in the US, and payments were carried out via US banks."
Zurich police confirmed the extradition process will begin immediately, subject to appeal.
The timing could not be more striking, with Blatter up for re-election as Fifa president on Friday - an election he is favourite to win against opponent Prince Ali bin al Hussein, who was reticent to pass judgement on the arrests.
"Today is a sad day for football," the Jordanian said. "Clearly this is a developing story, the details of which are still emerging. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time."
An official said the other soccer officials charged are Jeffrey Webb, Eugenio Figueredo, Jack Warner, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, José Maria Marin and Nicolás Leoz.The North American regional body, known as CONCACAF, reported itself to U.S. tax authorities in 2012.
