US authorities are planning to announce criminal charges against several current and former Fifa executives tied to corruption allegations that have consumed the football body for years, people familiar with the matter say.
The US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service are expected to announce a criminal indictment on Wednesday after arrest warrants on several of the executives were executed in dawn raids in Europe, these people say.
The individuals are expected to face multiple charges, including wire fraud, money laundering, tax evasion and racketeering, according to one person close to the investigation.
The charges come ahead of Fifa president Sepp Blatter’s bid for re-election on Friday and tie up a long-running controversy surrounding the sporting body.
Fifa has been consumed by corruption allegations for more than a decade. Controversy flared in 2010 when world football’s governing body awarded the rights to stage the 2018 and 2022 tournaments to Russia and Qatar.
There were immediate allegations of impropriety around the bidding process fuelled by the apparent unsuitability of hosting a summer football tournament in Qatar, where playing temperatures are likely to exceed 50C.
A leaked email from Jerome Valcke, Fifa’s secretary-general, said Qatar had “bought” the World Cup. Meanwhile, Mohammed bin Hammam, a Qatari football official, was suspended by Fifa and later banned for life following bribery allegations during his campaign to become Fifa president.
The votes for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments were held simultaneously. Some Fifa members were accused of offering their votes in return for cash. Fifa subsequently admitted it was wrong to run the two tournament votes together.
The Sunday Times of London published a trove of leaked emails revealing how Mr bin Hammam had generated support through financial payments.
Since Qatar won the rights to stage the tournament there have been allegations of workplace abuse, with scores of immigrant construction workers dying in the intense heat.
Facing intense pressure over the bidding process to award the events to Russia and Qatar, Fifa in 2012 hired Michael Garcia, the former attorney for the Southern District of New York and ex-Interpol vice-president, to lead a wide-ranging corruption investigation.
A lawyer best known for investigating corruption in the oil-for-food programme for the Bush administration and prosecuting Eliot Spitzer, the former New York governor, Mr Garcia seemed the ideal candidate to get to the bottom of the allegations swirling around Fifa.
Mr Garcia compiled a 430-page report over two years. But when, at the end of 2014, Fifa published a 42-page summary, he disowned it. The organisation refused to publish the report in full, claiming it could not do so for legal reasons.
Mr Garcia then quit, accusing Fifa of “lack of leadership” and questioning whether it was capable of changing its culture.