Shownotes Transcript
When Colin Foles retired from professional soccer, he decided to stay in Florida rather than return to Jamaica where he had grown up. He was comfortable in America,
At 32 years old, he was entering the prime of his life. He had recently started his new career as a real estate agent, and he had just bought a new house with his new wife, who had just given birth to their third child. Colin had plenty of things to keep him busy outside of sport, but he still loved the game of football. He spent his free time coaching the neighborhood kids. He joined a local recreational league and played pickup games with people he would meet at the park.
Colin Foles loved the game of football so much that his friends and family would often joke that he would probably die on the pitch. But that joke stopped being funny on August 29th, 1985 when their premonition came true. During an amateur football tournament at a Dade County park in the middle of a game just before halftime, two men with guns stormed the field shooting at everything that moved. Over 100 players and spectators scattered in every direction fearing for their lives.
When the shots stopped and the crowds cleared, two bodies lied motionless on the field. One of them belonged to an unidentified woman, a spectator who was watching the game as a fan. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The other body was Colin Foles. He had been shot in the stomach and the pelvis and he was clinging to life. Colin was transported to Parkway General Hospital and rushed into surgery, but he died minutes later.
No motive for the shooting has ever been determined, and Colin's murderer was never found. A few months later, on February 20th, 1986, more than 8,000 people packed into the run-down Lockhart Stadium in Fort Lauderdale to honor the beloved soccer star. A friendly match between the local All-Stars and the Canadian national team was played to benefit Colin's family. The proceeds collected from the $4 price of admission would be given to Colin's grieving widow, Allison, and her three daughters.
The night was a huge success. Old friends and teammates that hadn't seen each other in years hugged and cried and reminisced about the time they had spent with Colin. The crowd stifled its laughter as it watched the visiting Canadian team stand in the middle of the field to loudly sing their own national anthem because the event organizers had forgotten to bring a recorded version. The Canadians would get the last laugh, however. They won the game 2-0. Between ticket revenue and funds collected and a hat that was passed around the crowd,
The event had generated a total of $15,000 for the Foles family. Allison was humbled by the generosity of the community. She addressed the crowd on the stadium's PA system, quote, Looking at the stadium tonight, I can see all of Colin's effort toward the game of soccer, which he loved so much, was not in vain. Less than 48 hours after the game, the organizers of the benefit received a call from New York.
It was an executive with the United States Soccer Federation, which is the official governing body of the sport in America. The executive from U.S. Soccer explained to the event organizers that according to the USSF's international game laws, the USSF was guaranteed a share of the gate for any match involving an international team on American soil, and the benefit match between the Florida All-Stars and the Canadian team, well, that was technically an international match. The benefits organizers were stunned.
Is the USSF really demanding a cut of the money that was raised for a family whose breadwinner had just been murdered? Yes. Yes, they were. The Federation wanted 10% and after ignoring all the public outrage and pleas for a waiver, the USSF got their 10%, which amounted to roughly $1,500.
The suit behind the USSF's relentless enforcement of the rules was its vice president, a man named Chuck Blazer, who never backed down from his stance, telling a Florida newspaper quote: It was this type of aggression that would eventually land Chuck Blazer seated at the table of the most powerful football organization in the world.
And it was Chuck Blaze's greed that would force him into a position where he would have to expose the massive web of corruption and lies on which international football is governed. This is a story of power and politics. A story of bribes and kickbacks. Of workers' rights and modern-day slavery. This is the story of FIFA and the world's most popular sport on this episode of Swindled.
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This game is more than just a game or kicking the ball. This game has a value, a special educational value. The educational value because the game is based on discipline and respect. It is a game with a fighting spirit. It's a combat game, but in the spirit of fair play.
And therefore this game is not only giving all these emotions, but this game is giving also, I would say, a lot of hope to the humanity and especially to the youth of this world. Chuck Blazer never played soccer, but he is the man most responsible for the sport's rising popularity in America. A salesman by trade,
Blazer learned how to promote the game as a suburban soccer dad coaching his son's team in New Rochelle, New York in the late 70s. As an outsider, Blazer could see how dreadful the sport had been promoted in the United States. Multiple professional leagues had flopped. Professional soccer wasn't even televised, and the talent pool was shallow. Kids with athletic endeavors opted to play football, baseball, and basketball, even hockey instead.
The US men's national team had not qualified for a World Cup, which is the sport's premier tournament, in nearly 40 years. Soccer was dead in America, and Chuck Blazer saw an opportunity. He leveraged his knowledge of sales and business into securing executive roles in regional football organizations throughout the US, before eventually landing the role of Vice President at the USSF, where he was placed in charge of international competition.
During one of these international competitions in the late 80s, Chuck Blazer met a football administrator from Trinidad and Tobago named Jack Warner. The two became fast friends and began discussing the future of football in the Americas. Warner expressed interest in becoming president of CONCACAF, which is the organization that governs soccer in North and Central American and Caribbean countries. Warner recruited Blazer to help engineer his election.
In 1990, Jack Warner was elected president of CONCACAF, and Chuck Blazer was immediately named general secretary. It was at CONCACAF where Blazer began amassing a fortune. He was given the nickname Mr. 10% because his contract with the organization entitled him to collect a 10% commission on all sponsorship and television deals, a massive incentive to grow the sport as large and as fast as possible.
Under Chuck Blazer, the United States began playing internationally on a regular basis. The first U.S. women's team was formed, and the men's team ended their 40-year drought of World Cup appearances by qualifying for seven in a row. Blazer also negotiated the first real TV contract for Major League Soccer, a league whose most recent contract was worth $720 million. Blazer's soccer business was booming, but his personal life was falling apart.
Chuck and his wife and high school sweetheart Susan divorced in 1995. He began dating a soap opera actress named Mary Lynn Blanks soon after, but she left him too. After a violent altercation in which Blazer held Mary against a wall by her throat and punched her in the face. The last time Chuck saw Mary Lynn Blanks, she was running down the hallway crying and trying to stop the blood from pouring out of her nose.
Although he missed his girlfriend, Chuck's steady diet of escorts and strippers satisfied his most primal urges, and he found companionship with his pet birds and cats. One of his birds, a blue and gold macaw named Max, could often be found resting on Chuck's shoulder. Blazer cared so much for his birds that he spent $150,000 building a marble and glass aviary in his office. His cats lived a life of luxury as well.
Chuck rented an entire apartment down the hall from his personal residence on the 49th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan solely for his cats. By 1997, Chuck Blazer had reached the pinnacle of international soccer. He became the first American in over 50 years elected to serve on the executive committee of the Federation Internationale de Football Association, better known as FIFA.
It is a political, a sports political body. All relationships, you know, and especially when you get to the point where you're dealing with a worldwide entity with 204 members, clearly will have a structure which is, you know, somewhat unwieldy. But, I mean, I think we work with a much greater efficiency than the United Nations. FIFA is the international governing body of soccer and one of the most powerful sports organizations in the world.
The association is based in Switzerland and consists of six regional confederations, including CONCACAF, the organization headed by Chuck Blazer and Jack Warner. The member countries of FIFA each receive one vote to democratically make decisions that are in the best interest of the sport, such as where to host future World Cup tournaments. The World Cup is an international tournament that has taken place every four years since 1930. It is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world.
With the way FIFA is organized, a country with a population of 5,000 has the same voting power as a country with a population of 1 billion, which distributes the power equally among members, no matter how rich or successful their football teams might be. However, why would the smaller, poorer countries with zero chance of playing, much less winning, any of the sport's premier events care about the integrity of the sport? The answer is they don't.
which is why a culture of corruption and manipulation has casted a shadow over FIFA for decades. "In football, we learn to win and that's easy, but in football we also learn to lose, and this is not so easy." Sepp Blatter, a Swiss businessman, was elected president of FIFA in 1998, one year after Chuck Blazer joined the executive committee.
Blatter defeated the Swedish candidate, Lennart Johansson, who campaigned on the promise of honesty and transparency. Early polls and word of mouth heavily favored the Swede. But at the last minute, 20 delegates from African countries switched their votes in support of Blatter. Johansson demanded that FIFA investigate, but said Blatter, the new president, refused, asking, "...why should I? I cannot open an inquiry into myself. The elections are now finished."
Years later, it was revealed that each of the 20 African delegates had received 50 grand in cash from the ruler of a Middle Eastern state. It was also revealed that Blatter had paid 25 grand to a Nigerian referee for dirt on an official from Somali who publicly claimed that he had been offered money to vote for Blatter in the election. Blatter admitted to giving the Nigerian money, but he claimed it came out of his own pocket. Quote,
So I gave him $25,000 of my own money. I'm too good of a person. Furthermore, the General Secretary of FIFA at the time leaked to the Swiss press that almost $500 million had simply vanished during Sepp Blatter's first four years as president. No concrete proof ever surfaced that proved that the election was rigged or that the money was stolen. So the allegations were dropped and forgotten. This is how Sepp Blatter's reign as president of FIFA started.
and there have been constant questions of ethics, corruption, and financial mismanagement ever since. Meanwhile, the American, Chuck Blazer, continued to thrive at CONCACAF and in his new role at FIFA. He was promoted to chairman of the Marketing and Television Advisory Board, where he utilized his business-like approach to soccer to help transform FIFA from an organization that operated in the red to a money-making machine. Blazer traveled the world on FIFA's dime to meet with world leaders and the political elite
On his personal travel blog, which is still accessible today, there are photos of Chuck Blazer posing with Nelson Mandela and Pope John Paul II. He's seen rubbing shoulders with Prince William, the Clintons, and John McCain. Blazer even wrote a starry-eyed recollection of his encounter with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that almost sounds like a romance novel.
As the large doors to his private inner sanctum swung open, I was greeted by a smiling and very affable leader of the government, Mr. Putin himself. A firm handshake and a personable smile set the tone for what turned out to be a very special experience. He guided me to sit on a leather couch in the near right corner of the room. At right angles to the couch was another matching one, where he took up his position, so that we flanked the corner of a large wood-bordered coffee table.
The conversation began in a normal enough way, each of us thanking the other for making time for the visit. Genial welcomes continued until, at one moment, he looked at me with a very serious gaze and said, without cracking a smile, You know, you look like God of Mocs.
I guess I could have responded to his observation in any of a dozen unpredictable ways. Instead, I simply winked at him and said, I know. This brought an immediate response with him lifting his right arm up in the air and thrusting it forward to give me my first high five from a prime minister. Gross. Getting the royal treatment from the head of a nation wasn't uncommon from Chuck Blazer.
Every country he visited wanted to host a World Cup, and he knew that. And those countries knew that Chuck Blazer was one of only 24 men in the world who could make that happen. The decision of which country would play host to the 2018 World Cup was right around the corner, and Chuck Blazer knew which country would be receiving his vote. It's lonely at the top of the football world. Chuck Blazer thought it would be nice to have a companion on his long and frequent international trips.
He wrote a letter to Mary Lynn Blanks, the ex-girlfriend he had assaulted 25 years earlier. He described his extravagant new lifestyle and how he was a changed man and how he needed to see her. Mary Lynn's life had changed too. Her soap opera career had ended and she was dead broke with two kids to feed. She agreed to meet with Chuck, so he flew her out to New York to see if they could reignite that old flame. When Mary walked into Chuck's apartment, she didn't immediately recognize the man she used to know.
Apparently, Blazer's bank account wasn't the only thing that had ballooned over the past two decades. Chuck now weighed over 400 pounds and relied on a mobility scooter to get around. Mary Lynn would help him tie his shoes. She would help him get out of the bed and into the shower. And when he was out of the shower, she would have to blow dry every nook and cranny of his body. She would even look the other way while he cheated on her with strippers and escorts. But the free trips and fancy dinners and abundance of money was nice.
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A country's bid to host the World Cup usually consists of a stack of documents and a sleekly produced video that demonstrates its ability to properly host a prestigious and massive event. It includes details of existing and planned infrastructure, availability of accommodations, adequate transportation, etc. These bids are then judged and voted on by the 24 members of FIFA's executive committee. Four bids total were submitted for the 2018 World Cup.
one from England, one from Russia, a combined bid from Portugal and Spain, and another combined bid from the Netherlands and Belgium. England was the heavy favorite to win the bid. It's the motherland of football, and they hadn't hosted a World Cup in over 40 years. They had Prince William and David Beckham on the bid team, and in front of cameras, garnering support. There's no way they could lose, right? On December 2nd, 2010, the votes were counted. So the...
2018 FIFA World Cup 2018 FIFA World Cup Ladies and gentlemen will be organized in Russia This is the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Igor Shuvalov accepting the honors Dear Mr. President Honored members of the FIFA Executive Committee Dearest friends and colleagues and everybody who is here You haven't trusted us with
The English were shocked. Many blamed the pesky media for hurting the country's chances of winning the vote. Just weeks before the decision, the BBC had aired a devastating expose of FIFA and its corrupt practices, and members of FIFA's executive committee apparently weren't too thrilled about it.
This is the former mayor of London, Boris Johnson, alluding to the effect the media played in the selection process. I don't want to speculate about what happened and it would be wrong because clearly I think we had an absolutely fantastic bid but the feedback that we're getting from people inside the executive committee is yes, certainly there was a great deal of upset and frustration
Maybe the English media were on to something. Less than two months before the bid selection, two executive members of FIFA from Nigeria and Tahiti were suspended for trying to sell their World Cup votes.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter attempted to control the damage by suggesting that every organization houses a few bad apples. Former Prime Minister of England, David Cameron, pointed to corruption of this type as the reason Russia won the vote.
Maybe he had a point, or maybe it was pure projection on his part, considering it was later revealed that England attempted to manipulate the vote themselves. David Cameron, along with Prince William, attended a meeting with representatives from South Korea to discuss a vote-swapping deal. They even discussed the possibility of arranging a meeting with the Queen to secure their votes, but apparently it was Russia who offered the voters something even more enticing. By all appearances, Russia was unqualified to host the event.
The country lacked the infrastructure and the stadiums to accommodate the estimated 3 million fans that would descend upon the country. Russia doesn't even have a rich tradition in football. It's a well-known fact that Vladimir Putin is a lifelong fan of ice hockey, but he is a fan of flexing his muscles on the world stage. And what better way to prove his power than by winning the bid to host a World Cup, by any means necessary. This wasn't the first time a World Cup bid selection had been plagued with questions of foul play.
For the 2010 World Cup, after South Africa was announced as the winning bid, FIFA executive committee members tallied their votes independently and found that Morocco had been the true winner. For the 2006 World Cup, it was discovered that Germany had traded a shipment of rocket-propelled grenades to Saudi Arabia in exchange for their vote. The questions surrounding Russia's successful bid would soon be overshadowed. On the same day that Russia was announced as host of the 2018 World Cup,
The winning bid for the 2022 World Cup was also announced. The 2022 FIFA World Cup is Qatar. President Blatter, members of the executive committee and FIFA, thank you for believing in change. Thank you for believing in expanding the game. Thank you for giving Qatar a chance. And we will not let you down. You will be proud of us. You will be proud of the Middle East. And I promise you this.
Qatar is a tiny desert state located on the Arabian Peninsula. It is the richest country in the world per capita, and it will be the smallest country and only Arab country to ever play host to the World Cup. Qatar's bid beat out Australia, South Korea, Japan, and the United States. Qatar was a controversial choice for a lot of reasons. For one, temperatures in the summer when the World Cup is played can reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
not exactly ideal conditions for a game of soccer. Furthermore, a majority of the country's legislation is based on Sharia law. Corporal punishments for Muslim nationals such as floggings and stonings are still in place. Because of Sharia law, the consumption of alcohol is illegal in Qatar, but FIFA has had no issues skirting such laws in the past.
During the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where beer had been banned from sporting events, FIFA was able to persuade the Brazilian government to pass what was called the Budweiser Bill, a law that temporarily allowed alcohol sales during the World Cup. Budweiser is one of the World Cup's main sponsors. Qatar has already stated that it will allow alcohol consumption during the World Cup, but only in designated fan zones. Homosexuality is also illegal in Qatar.
I would say that they should refrain from any sexual activities.
This is the same man who suggested that in order to increase the popularity of the sport, women soccer players should wear tighter shorts. Speaking of women, female tourists in Qatar are advised not to show too much skin or shape in public. No miniskirts, no sleeveless dresses, no yoga pants.
The decision to choose Qatar left many puzzled fans wondering how could anyone possibly think that this would be the best location to hold an international event as massive as the World Cup. The Secretary General of Qatar, Hassan al-Tawadi, responded to the critics. When people say, "How did you win the World Cup?" You know, the simplest answer, and I assure you and I promise you, it is not said in any way with any arrogance. We were the best bid.
Less than six months later, a media officer that had worked on Qatar's bid team, named Fajra Al-Majid, alleged publicly that certain FIFA executives had accepted bribes. Two months later, Fajra retracted her statement. She said she fabricated the whole story because she was angry that she had lost her job. She said she just wanted to make a few headlines. End quote.
Phaedra insisted that she was not pressured or paid to change her story. A year later, Phaedra's story changed again. After the FBI contacted her, she admitted that she had, in fact, been coerced into retracting her statement. She said she felt threatened and did what she had to do in order to protect her kids. It's cost me personally, it's cost me emotionally.
I know for a fact that I will be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. It's cost me my credibility and most importantly it's cost security for both me and my children. However, I did witness something and I believe that I did have to say what I witnessed. The heat and the barbaric laws and the possible acts of corruption were issues that were known before Qatar was even selected to host the World Cup.
The issues that have come to light afterwards during the preparation of the event are as equally, if not more, disturbing. In order to realize the dream depicted in their bid to host the 2022 World Cup, Qatar promised to build nine new enclosed air-conditioned stadiums and thousands of hotel rooms, railways, roads, and other infrastructure. The entire project will cost an estimated $140 billion.
As for the actual construction work, Qatar will rely on its workforce of 1.5 million immigrants to get the job done. And for many of the migrant workers, they will have no other choice because they're essentially modern-day slave laborers. Qatar operates on what's called a kafala system that requires migrant workers to report to an in-country sponsor and grants employers near total control over its foreign employees. When foreign workers arrive, they often discover that the terms of their employment have changed.
They are forced to work excessive hours in extreme heat, and their salaries are far lower than they had been promised when they were recruited, if they are paid at all. Workers have complained that it can take up to six months to receive a paycheck. The workers are housed in squalid conditions at camps owned by slumlords and rented by construction companies and patrolled by security guards. Up to 12 workers can live in a single room sharing one toilet, a single kitchen, and no electricity.
Some workers choose to sleep on the roof of the buildings to escape the unbearable heat inside of their rooms. At some camps, there's very little food. Other camps lack clean water and are given salt water to drink and clean with instead. And there's no escape. Upon arrival, migrant workers have their passports seized so it's impossible to cross borders. They're also left undocumented by their new employers, putting the workers at risk of being detained if they even try to leave their housing premises. In April 2015,
Nepalese migrant workers, which make up over 60% of the labor camps, were even forbidden from returning home to attend the funerals of family and friends that died during the massive earthquake in Kathmandu that killed over 8,000 people and injured 19,000 others. According to a 2014 report from the International Trade Union Confederation, at least 4,000 migrant workers will die in Qatar before the start of the World Cup in 2022.
Critics have suggested that the figure of 4,000 deaths is a severe underestimation because it is based on numbers reported by a small fraction of foreign embassies. Foreign embassies who have failed to demand the true number of deaths from the Qatari government. Foreign embassies that have failed to demand the actual number of women and children that have been abused and raped and locked away in crowded detention centers with no records or documentation. These foreign embassies don't even bother to ask for the true numbers.
And if they do know, they downplay these atrocities because they fear that Qatar will retaliate by cutting off the flow of money back to their homelands. That 2014 report by the ITUC calls Qatar a country without a conscience that is run like a family business. The ITUC alleges that the government in Qatar is a facade and that it takes no responsibilities for workers even though it has publicly promised that it would take steps to improve the situation. Kafala law remains in place in Qatar
The violations of human rights and the exploitation of foreign workers continues, and FIFA has been complicit. Internally, FIFA wasn't immune to Qatar's successful bid. Chuck Blazer discovered that his best friend from Trinidad, Jack Warner, the man who had appointed him General Secretary of CONCACAF, had broken his promise to vote for the United States to host the 2022 World Cup. Reports emerged that Warner had voted for Qatar instead after receiving $2 million in bribes.
This betrayal stung even worse because Chuck Blazer had publicly defended Jack Warner when he was accused of corrupt practices related to a World Cup qualifying match that was held in Trinidad. Jack Warner reportedly oversold the stadium capacity by 10,000 tickets and pocketed the extra money, while angry ticket holders were stuck outside. Chuck Blazer had also defended Jack Warner when he was accused of generating $1.3 million from the sale of marked-up tickets to the 2002 and 2006 World Cups.
and again when Warner was accused of keeping over 200 grand and donations that were meant to aid victims of the Haiti earthquake. Chuck Blazer had defended his friend Jack Warner through it all, even though he knew all of the allegations were probably true. Blazer would discover that not only had his friend betrayed him for a bribe, Jack Warner, along with FIFA presidential candidate Mohammed bin Hammam, had arranged a meeting with Caribbean soccer officials to influence their votes. On May 10th, 2010,
Jack Warner provided each Caribbean delegate at the meeting in Trinidad with a brown envelope containing $40,000. Warner told them that the money was a gift from Mohammed bin Hammam. One of the delegates leaked the contents of the gifts to the press, which angered Jack Warner. He called a follow-up meeting the next day, which was secretly recorded by a delegate.
In the video, you can hear Jack Warner ask if the media is in the audience. When he finds out the coast is clear, he references the gift that the delegates had received the prior day. Warner then references the leak to the press saying quote, "There are some people who believe they are more pious than thou. If you're pious, go to a church, friends. But the fact is, our business is our business.
Jack Warner's business became everybody's business when Chuck Blazer divulged details of the meeting to FIFA headquarters.
Blazer was commended for blowing the whistle and for attempting to clean up the sport. Is FIFA inherently corrupt? No, sir. I think individuals are. Okay. What can be done to clean up FIFA, then? What I did, and that is to turn around and to expose it where it exists and have it go through a proper legal process where it is vetted and decisions are taken to ultimately to punish those who have transgressed.
Blazer was then asked about his relationship with Jack Warner. How about your personal relationship with Jack Warner? It's obviously been broken. Okay, so do you think he feels a sense of betrayal? I feel betrayed based on what he, the risk and danger he put our members to, to expose them to this sort of situation where they were in jeopardy by accepting the gifts, I think is unconscionable.
In order to avoid further investigation, Jack Warner resigned from his positions at FIFA and CONCACAF, telling the press, Chuck Blazer resigned from his position at CONCACAF soon after Warner's departure.
He had learned that the new leadership wanted him out too, so instead of getting fired, he attempted to save face and quit instead. Blazer told the press, Funny enough, there was an organization eyeing Chuck Blazer, but it wasn't a Fortune 500 company, and it wasn't for a CEO position.
In November 2011, Chuck Blazer and Mary Lynn Blanks had dinner plans at a fancy restaurant on 5th Avenue in New York. As the couple left Blazer's apartment, Mary was on foot and Chuck riding his scooter. A voice behind them asked, May we have a word with you, Mr. Blazer? Chuck wheeled around to find two FBI agents staring at him. One of the agents added, We can take you away in handcuffs now, or you can cooperate.
The FBI revealed that they knew about the six years worth of tax returns he had apparently failed to file. They knew about the $1 million bribe to vote for South Africa to host the World Cup in 2010. They knew he had given out TV contracts in exchange for millions of dollars in kickbacks. From 1991 to 2011, Chuck Blazer had collected more than $21 million during his time with CONCACAF, an amount equal to nearly twice the compensation of all other CONCACAF employees combined.
Most of the funds were paid to offshore bank accounts and shell companies. A huge percentage of the funds that Blazer had diverted to his personal accounts had been earmarked for facility improvements and development opportunities for youth soccer leagues. Chuck Blazer might have spent the past few months playing the role of hero for exposing Jack Warner, but the truth is that he was just as dirty as the rest of them. If convicted of all the charges he was facing, Chuck Blazer could be sentenced to a 100-year prison stay.
unless he agreed to do what the FBI wanted him to do. And what they wanted him to do was wear a wire to secretly record his colleagues. Putting a wire on a 400-plus pound man is no easy feat. The tape that adheres the device to the body wouldn't stick because of his sweaty and pasty skin. Plans were changed to use a bugged keychain, and for the next three years, Chuck Blazer served as a mole for the FBI.
Six top football officials have been arrested over corruption charges at football's world governing body, FIFA. It happened at a hotel in the Swiss city of Zurich. The suspects, who reportedly include the organization's vice president, have been detained pending extradition to the US. The case involves alleged bribes of around $100 million, spanning over two decades.
On May 27, 2015, during an early morning raid, authorities from the United States arrested seven FIFA executives and indicted four other men, including Jack Warner. FIFA headquarters in Zurich was also raided. U.S. prosecutors allege that these individuals were engaged in bribery schemes that spanned decades and used intricate methods to hide the payments.
This would be the first bust of many for what authorities described as a, quote, rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted corruption within FIFA. This is U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Many of the individuals and organizations we will describe today were entrusted with keeping soccer open and accessible to all.
They held important responsibilities at every level, from building soccer fields for children in developing countries to organizing the World Cup. They were expected to uphold the rules that keep soccer honest and to protect the integrity of the game. Instead, they corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and to enrich themselves.
In the following months, more than 40 FIFA officials and corporate executives would be indicted as part of racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracies. However, one person who had not been charged was FIFA president Sepp Blatter. In fact, two days after the arrest, Blatter was re-elected to serve a fifth term as president. During his Election Day victory speech, Sepp reportedly said, "I am the president now. The president of everybody. And I forgive, but I do not forget."
When asked about the recent arrest and if maybe international football was in a bit of a crisis, Blatter had this to say: "Crisis? What is a crisis? Football is not in a crisis. We are not in a crisis. We are only in some difficulties, and these difficulties will be solved, will be solved inside our family." Less than a week later, Seb Blatter resigned.
Six months later, in December 2015, he was banned from football for eight years for making a, quote, disloyal payment to the man he was grooming to take over his position. Platter held a press conference to announce his suspension. To say that it's a good day for me or for FIFA, this would be totally wrong. Sepp then apologized, but not for the widespread corruption that was rampant in the organization that he oversaw for decades.
Instead, he played the victim and apologized for being the, quote, punching ball for all that plagues the organization. Ladies and gentlemen, let us say that I'm really sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry that I am still somewhere, a punching ball, but I'm sorry that I am, as president of FIFA, this punching ball, and I'm sorry for football. I'm sorry for
He then addressed the reason for his suspension, but didn't quite seem to fully comprehend it.
Zetbladder remains banned from all football activities, but he has yet to face any criminal charges.
Jack Warner, the disgraced Trinidad football administrator, who had been indicted for his participation in various schemes, reappeared around this time to defend himself. What about you, Mr. Warner? Have you ever accepted a bribe? I have never accepted a bribe. Never in your life? I have never accepted a bribe. Not even something that someone might think is a bribe? No, I know what people think. I can speculate what people think. Have you ever money laundered? I don't even know how to do that. Tell me something, how to do that?
tell me how to do it because you might be able to help me but i wouldn't know myself mr warner well then that makes two of us jack warner had produced multiple videos of himself speaking to the camera promising to unleash an avalanche of secrets about fifa in a video he posted to facebook warner alleges that all of these investigations and accusations are because of the u.s's failed bid for the world cup in 2022 and then i looked to see that fifa
as frantically announced 2015. 2015, this year, this year, Olympic final in the World Cup begin May 27. Why is it US authorities sought to embarrass FIFA in Zurich? Something has to be wrong. I made the point to you over and over that all this thing has stemmed from the failed US bid to host the World Cup.
Warner poses the question about the US's willingness to continue working with FIFA, and he holds a printout of an article in front of the camera. The article is titled, "FIFA Frantically Announces 2015 Summer World Cup in the United States." The source of the article is The Onion, the satirical news organization. The video was removed, and the references to The Onion article were edited out before it was re-uploaded.
As Jack Warner professed his innocence, Mohammed bin Hammam, the man who supplied Warner with the funds to buy votes for Qatar, was found guilty of bribery and banned from all international and national football activity for life. Reports surfaced that revealed that bin Hammam had paid FIFA executives more than $5 million in bribes to bring the World Cup to Qatar. The state of Qatar maintains that their bid was legitimate and the tournament will happen as planned in 2022.
The first of many trials to come from the sprawling corruption investigation started in October 2017. Guatemalan soccer official Hector Trujillo was sentenced to eight months in prison for accepting $174,000 in bribes. The trial of three former South American football administrators began in November 2017. Jose Maria Marin of Brazil
Juan Naput from Paraguay and Manuel Berga from Peru were accused of accepting over $150 million in bribes. The government's star witness was a man named Alejandro Berzaco, a former CEO of an Argentinian media company. He testified that throughout his career he had paid over $160 million in bribes to FIFA officials in exchange for broadcast and marketing rights.
He named Jorge Deljan, an Argentinian government official, as someone he had given at least $2 million to for broadcast rights. When Deljan received the news that he had been named in the trial, he wrote a letter to his family that said, I love you all. I can't believe this is happening. And he walked outside and he jumped in front of a train. The three men were found guilty and they are currently awaiting sentencing.
One of the government's other star witnesses, Chuck Blazer, will not be participating in the upcoming trials of FIFA officials. He died on July 12th, 2017 at a hospital in New Jersey after battling multiple diseases including rectal cancer. He was 72 years old. When Chuck Blazer's death was announced, there were no public tributes from either CONCACAF or FIFA. Soccer, football, is an egalitarian sport. It is the beautiful game because the pitch is flat.
It is available to anyone and everyone, no matter where you come from, rich or poor, boy or girl, you can enjoy the beautiful game. It has lifted billions around this globe and is an incredibly popular and fast-growing sport here in the United States.
The game, according to the allegations in this indictment, was hijacked. That field that is so famously flat was made tilted in favor of those who were looking to gain at the expense of countries and kids who were enjoying the game of soccer.
This hijacking is being met with a very aggressive prosecutorial response in order to change behavior. As the U.S. Attorney said, this investigation has been long and painstaking and it is not over. And the work will continue until all of the corruption is uncovered and a message is sent around the world that this conduct will not be tolerated.
Swindled is written, researched, produced, and hosted by me, a concerned citizen, with music by Ethan Helfrich, aka Rest You Sleeping Giant. For more information about the show, including photos of this case and others, as well as updates on prior cases we've covered, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at Swindled Podcast. If you want to support the show, you can do so at patreon.com slash swindled.
For $5 a month, you'll receive early and advertisement-free access to new episodes, free merchandise, exclusive access to bonus episodes, and more. We just released a short bonus episode called The Pulse All about a man who takes advantage of his mentally disabled friend in a get-rich-quick scheme. It's pretty disturbing. Check it out. Patreon.com slash swindled. Another way to support the show is to make a purchase at swindledpodcast.com slash shop.
or use the one-time donation form on the homepage. Anything is appreciated. Finally, I want to give a huge thank you to Shea with an EA for volunteering to read Chuck Blazer's sensual blog article about meeting Vladimir Putin. Shea and his co-host Aaron host a conversational Texas-themed true crime podcast called All Crime, No Cattle, and it's pretty rad. You can find it on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and I'm sure wherever else podcasts hang out.
Stay tuned after these credits to hear a couple of promos for some other cool independent podcasts. That's it. Until next time. Thanks for listening. Welcome to the Murder Mile True Crime Podcast. My name is Michael. And each week I shall take you on a guided walk of hundreds of untold, unsolved, and long-forgotten murders. All set within one square mile.
Proving that if you dig deep enough, you'll find that on every street in every city, there's a killer on every corner, death on every doorstep, and homicide in every home. Murder Mile is investigated using original police files and eyewitness testimony, with authentic sounds recorded at the murder location itself, and is accompanied by photos, videos, and maps to make you feel like you're actually there.
A new episode of the Murder Mile True Crime Podcast is released every Thursday on almost every podcast platform. Thank you. Enjoy your day. I'm Moe Blackwell, the host of Targeted, true crime, domestic violence. We'll investigate one case of family violence each season using academic research to interpret the events so that we can become better advocates.
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