[BostonCard]

Just one week after getting re-elected, Sepp Blatter steps down amidst the corruption probe.  FIFA tried to spin this one as sour grapes on the part of the US after we lost our bid, but it became clear that the corruption was more widespread than FIFA wanted to make it appear.  This became apparent yesterday when the New York Times linked Blatter's #2 in command (Jerome Valke) to the corruption inquiry for funneling $10 million on behalf of South Africa following their winning bid to host the 2010 world cup.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/sports...v=top-news

American prosecutors, however, say the bribery scheme played out over several years. In 2004, as FIFA’s executive committee considered where to host the 2010 World Cup, South Africa’s government agreed to pay Mr. Warner and others $10 million in exchange for their votes, according to the indictment.

Mr. Warner voted for South Africa, but in the months and years after the vote, South Africa was unable to pay. So rather than take a payment directly from South Africa, the indictment says, FIFA itself paid Mr. Warner in 2008, using money that would otherwise have gone to South Africa to support the World Cup.

So today Sepp Blatter stepped down...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/sports...pe=article

I'm guessing it won't be long before Blatter is named in an indictment (and almost certainly Valke).  Of course, by then, they will safely be residents of countries that don't have extradition treaties with the US.  See, for example, this item tucked at the end of the first article:

FIFA announced Monday that, “due to the current situation,” Mr. Valcke would not attend the opening of the Women’s World Cup in Canada next week. “It is important that he attends to matters at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich,” the organization said in a news release.

BC

[BostonCard]

Just one week after getting re-elected, Sepp Blatter steps down amidst the corruption probe.  FIFA tried to spin this one as sour grapes on the part of the US after we lost our bid, but it became clear that the corruption was more widespread than FIFA wanted to make it appear.  This became apparent yesterday when the New York Times linked Blatter's #2 in command (Jerome Valke) to the corruption inquiry for funneling $10 million on behalf of South Africa following their winning bid to host the 2010 world cup.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/sports...v=top-news

American prosecutors, however, say the bribery scheme played out over several years. In 2004, as FIFA’s executive committee considered where to host the 2010 World Cup, South Africa’s government agreed to pay Mr. Warner and others $10 million in exchange for their votes, according to the indictment.

Mr. Warner voted for South Africa, but in the months and years after the vote, South Africa was unable to pay. So rather than take a payment directly from South Africa, the indictment says, FIFA itself paid Mr. Warner in 2008, using money that would otherwise have gone to South Africa to support the World Cup.

So today Sepp Blatter stepped down...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/sports...pe=article

I'm guessing it won't be long before Blatter is named in an indictment (and almost certainly Valke).  Of course, by then, they will safely be residents of countries that don't have extradition treaties with the US.  See, for example, this item tucked at the end of the first article:

FIFA announced Monday that, “due to the current situation,” Mr. Valcke would not attend the opening of the Women’s World Cup in Canada next week. “It is important that he attends to matters at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich,” the organization said in a news release.

BC