Swiss authorities conducted an early-morning operation in Zurich hotel to arrest six top soccer officials and extradite them to the United States on federal corruption charges.
A FIFA spokesman says that President Sepp Blatter is not involved but vice-presidents Jeffrey Webb,the current CONCACAF president and Eugenio Figueredo from Uruguay have been arrested, along with Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel and Jose Maria Marin.
According to foreign media reports, leaders of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, gathered for their annual meeting. More than a dozen plain-clothed Swiss law enforcement officials arrived unannounced at the Baur au Lac hotel, an elegant five-star property with views of the Alps and Lake Zurich. They went to the front desk to get room numbers and then proceeded upstairs. The arrests were carried out peacefully.
The charges, backed by an F.B.I. investigation, allege widespread corruption in FIFA over the past two decades, involving bids for World Cups as well as marketing and broadcast deals.
The Swiss officials have also said that they have opened up the criminal case related to bids on 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The raids were part of an investigation already underway into money laundering and fraud involving FIFA’s awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively.
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