Chuck Blazer, Ex-FIFA Official, Is Banned for Life From Soccer
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Version 0 of 1. LONDON — Chuck Blazer, the former FIFA executive committee member who has pleaded guilty to widespread corruption charges in the United States, was banned for life from soccer-related activities on Thursday by world soccer’s governing body. Mr. Blazer, 70, a larger-than-life soccer power broker turned whistle-blower, pleaded guilty in November 2013 to a 10-count charge including racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering and tax evasion as part of an investigation into corruption in international soccer by American law enforcement authorities. Facing up to 10 years in prison for failing to report foreign bank accounts and five years for tax evasion, he became a central figure in the investigation into the murky inner workings of global soccer. His testimony helped lead to the indictment of more than a dozen other soccer officials. FIFA said in a statement that the case presented by the Justice Department against Mr. Blazer was instrumental in his expulsion from global soccer. “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 moneymaking schemes,” it said. From 1997 to 2013, Mr. Blazer was a member of FIFA’s executive committee. He was also the general secretary of Concacaf, which oversees soccer in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, from 1990 to 2011. According to the federal indictment, he was involved in bribes and kickbacks and other activities to enrich himself, including the unauthorized sale of tickets to the World Cup. He has also admitted to taking bribes from bidders seeking to host the 1998 and 2010 World Cups. Although Mr. Blazer is ailing and had already been relegated from the world of global soccer, the sanction officially ends the career of one of the sport’s most colorful and controversial characters. |