FIFA Bans Former Committee Member, FBI Informant Chuck Blazer For Life
ZURICH, Switzerland, July 9 (UPI) — FIFA has imposed a lifetime ban on Chuck Blazer, its former executive committee member who turned into an FBI informant against the world’s soccer governing body.
Blazer is banned from “taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level for life,” FIFA said in a statement.
Blazer, 70, an American, agreed to work undercover for the FBI, supplying information about corruption within the hierarchy of FIFA, after he pleaded guilty in 2013 to 10 charges of bribery, tax fraud and money laundering. He was also formerly the CONCACAF general secretary.
“Mr. Blazer committed many and various acts of misconduct continuously and repeatedly during his time as an official in different high-ranking and influential positions at FIFA and CONCACAF,” FIFA wrote. “In his positions as a football official, he was a key player in schemes involving the offer, acceptance, payment and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, bribes and kickbacks as well as other money-making schemes.”
Blazer agreed to become an FBI informant in exchange for immunity from further prosecution and a commutation of a 75-year prison sentence. He also forfeited nearly $2 million he received in bribes and kickbacks, and must also pay back taxes and penalties on $11 million in unreported income, the plea deal states.
Blazer, currently dealing with cancer, has admitted taking bribes to vote in favor of South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 World Cup, as well as accepting bribes over placement of lesser tournaments, some held in the United States.
FIFA has been embroiled in chaos and controversy since late May after the U.S. Justice Department charged 14 FIFA officials and corporate executives of “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 scandal led FIFA President Sep Blatter, who won reelection days after the charges were announced, to declare his pending resignation, which could come as early as December.
High-ranking FIFA officials, including Blatter, FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke and former FIFA Vice President Jack Warner, have come under legal scrutiny by the FBI and Swiss authorities.
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