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FIFA anti-corruption committee member pleads guilty to taking nearly $1M in bribes

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X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
FIFA Anti-Corruption Committee Member Admits To Taking Nearly $1 Million In Bribes

Richard Lai, the president of the Guam Football Association and a member of FIFA's corruption-fighting audit and compliance committee, pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. federal court to fraud charges arising from his admission to taking almost $1 million in bribes. Lest you were wondering if FIFA is still FIFA.

Lai's primary ”benefactors" came from his own Asian confederation. The court record reveals that Lai was paid off with the expectation that he would ”advance the interests" of those that had bribed him, which included him going out and finding additional corruptible members of FIFA who too could be bought off.
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Lai's plea deal, in which he copped to two wire fraud conspiracy charges and agreed to pay forfeiture and penalty fees of over $1.1 million, is the first guilty plea U.S. officials have gotten in the course of their prosecution of the shady business of FIFA. Today, FIFA has provisionally suspended Lai.

An American citizen, Lai appeared in court in Brooklyn yesterday to make his plea official. The judge took note of the particularly galling nature of his venality as a man on the take who worked on one of the FIFA committees tasked with keeping corruption out of soccer.
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EDIT - Some more details:

http://www.espnfc.us/blog/fifa/243/...admits-to-bribery-in-us-federal-investigation

But most important of all are the details of the case as they implicate former FIFA vice-president and AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam.

The Qatari was banned for life by FIFA in 2011 for allegedly trying to bribe members of the Caribbean Football Union to vote for him against incumbent Sepp Blatter in the FIFA presidential elections.

With Bin Hammam out of the frame, Blatter would eventually win a fourth term unopposed. The Qatari would overturn that life ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2012, only to receive another FIFA life ban for AFC-related corruption.

Lai pleaded guilty to receiving USD 100,000 (£77,000) from an individual the DoJ described as "an official of the AFC who was then running for the FIFA presidency" in exchange for his vote.

The DoJ statement said Lai also received over $850,000 between 2009 and 2014 from a "faction of soccer officials in the AFC region" for his support.

In total, the US investigation has led to more than 40 football officials and businessmen being charged, with 21 now pleading guilty and paying huge fines.
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J

jelly

Member
Excellent. Thought this had died down.

Blatter only expanded FIFA so he could get people like this in his pocket to sway the votes.
 
A

azyless

Member
dfdgg.png
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This organisation is rotten.
 
S

Skyzard

Banned
Alex_Mexico said:
So remind me why we're still having the 2022 WC in Qatar?
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Well, it says:

Lai's primary ”benefactors" came from his own Asian confederation.
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Whatever that means.

Countries will always try to bribe their way with this stuff. Why shouldn't Qatar get it?

London got the olympics secured in 2005 after the UK started an illegal war with Iraq 2 years earlier. I fail to see what Qatar has done that's worse than that, though you'd think they have with how people react.

I guess it's a little different as it was cities bidding on the olympics whereas countries bid on the world cup, but still.
 
A

azyless

Member
Skyzard said:
Well, it says:



Whatever that means.

Countries will always try to bribe their way with this stuff. Why shouldn't Qatar get it?

London got the olympics secured in 2005 after the UK started an illegal war with Iraq 2 years earlier. I fail to see what Qatar has done that's worse than that.
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You know Qatar is in the AFC right ?
I'll pass on why Qatar is worse than England to organize a WC lol.
 
X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Some more details:

http://www.espnfc.us/blog/fifa/243/...admits-to-bribery-in-us-federal-investigation

But most important of all are the details of the case as they implicate former FIFA vice-president and AFC president Mohamed Bin Hammam.

The Qatari was banned for life by FIFA in 2011 for allegedly trying to bribe members of the Caribbean Football Union to vote for him against incumbent Sepp Blatter in the FIFA presidential elections.

With Bin Hammam out of the frame, Blatter would eventually win a fourth term unopposed. The Qatari would overturn that life ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2012, only to receive another FIFA life ban for AFC-related corruption.

Lai pleaded guilty to receiving USD 100,000 (£77,000) from an individual the DoJ described as "an official of the AFC who was then running for the FIFA presidency" in exchange for his vote.

The DoJ statement said Lai also received over $850,000 between 2009 and 2014 from a "faction of soccer officials in the AFC region" for his support.

In total, the US investigation has led to more than 40 football officials and businessmen being charged, with 21 now pleading guilty and paying huge fines.
Click to expand...
 
M

Militaratus

Member
So when will corruption in FIFA finally become a gameplay element, come on EA, plenty of microtransaction opportunities of using premium currency to bribe people such as referees!

On topic, you had one job, to keep corruption out of FIFA, and you couldn't even do that.
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
This is like the plot of World of Warcraft.

The galaxy is filled with corruption, so the Cosmic Powers That Be assign a force to cleanse the corruption. The Anti-Corruption Force immediately gets corrupted and is your raid boss. Trust me, this is almost every single raid dungeon ever put in the game.
 
H

Heshinsi

"playing" dumb? unpossible
Skyzard said:
Well, it says:



Whatever that means.

Countries will always try to bribe their way with this stuff. Why shouldn't Qatar get it?

London got the olympics secured in 2005 after the UK started an illegal war with Iraq 2 years earlier. I fail to see what Qatar has done that's worse than that, though you'd think they have with how people react.

I guess it's a little different as it was cities bidding on the olympics whereas countries bid on the world cup, but still.
Click to expand...
Why shouldn't Qatar get it? How about the modern day slavery they practice?
 
B

Blue Lou

Member
Looking past the headline, it's less to do with his position in the FIFA committee and more to do with his position as Guam FA President and his seat on the AFC Executive Committee. This is largely an Asia-based issue with a US citizen.

That doesn't look as good for the press and US prosecutors much though. I bet most people didn't even realise Guam had it's own FA.
 
B

Blue Lou

Member
The Kuwaiti IOC official who had allegedly been sounding out people willing to accept money in exchange for favours has resigned from his country's FA.

He denies any wrongdoing.

Because he has resigned, FIFA can't punish him. All they can do is ban him from football administration duties for the future.
 
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