NINE FIFA OFFICIALS INDICTED

US Attorney General files federal indictment in UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN District of NEW YORK CRIMINAL DIVISION against FIFA.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vs. JEFFREY WEBB, EDUARDO LI, JULIO ROCHA, COSTAS TAKKAS, JACK WARNER, EUGENIO FIGUEREDO, RAFAEL ESQUIVEL, JOSEMARIA MARIN, NICOLAS LEOZ, ALEJANDRO BURZACO, AARON DAVIDSON, HUGO JINKIS, MARIANO JINKIS, and JOSE MARGULIES, also known as Jose Lazaro, Defendants.
NINE FIFA OFFICIALS AND FIVE CORPORATE EXECUTIVESINDICTED.
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defendant executed committee member FIFA sport sport marketing INDICTED
US Attorney General files federal indictment in UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN District of NEW YORK CRIMINAL DIVISION against FIFA.
NINE FIFA OFFICIALS AND FIVE CORPORATE EXECUTIVESINDICTED.
About Jack Berlin

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defendant executed committee member FIFA sport sport marketing INDICTED
Note: The number of defendants arrested in Zurich increased to seven.  Earlier this morning, 
Swiss authorities in Zurich arrested seven of the defendants charged in the indictment, the 
defendants Jeffrey Webb, Eduardo Li, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Eugenio Figueredo, 
Rafael Esquivel and JosÃ© Maria Marin, at the request of the United States.  Also this morning, 
a search warrant is being executed at CONCACAF headquarters in Miami, Florida. 
 
NINE FIFA OFFICIALS AND FIVE CORPORATE EXECUTIVES 
INDICTED FOR RACKETEERING CONSPIRACY AND CORRUPTION 
 
The Defendants Include Two Current FIFA Vice Presidents and the Current and Former 
Presidents of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association 
Football (CONCACAF); Six Defendants Arrested Overseas; Guilty Pleas for Four 
Individual Defendants and Two Corporate Defendants Also Unsealed 
 
WASHINGTON â€“ A 47-count indictment was unsealed early this morning in federal 
court in Brooklyn, New York, charging 14 defendants with racketeering, wire fraud and 
money laundering conspiracies, among other offenses, in connection with the defendantsâ€™ 
participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international 
soccer.  The guilty pleas of four individual defendants and two corporate defendants were 
also unsealed today. 
 
The defendants charged in the indictment include high-ranking officials of the 
FÃ©dÃ©ration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the organization responsible for the 
regulation and promotion of soccer worldwide, as well as leading officials of other soccer 
governing bodies that operate under the FIFA umbrella.  Jeffrey Webb and Jack Warner â€“ the 
current and former presidents of CONCACAF, the continental confederation under FIFA 
headquartered in the United States â€“ are among the soccer officials charged with racketeering 
and bribery offenses.  The defendants also include U.S. and South American sports marketing 
executives who are alleged to have systematically paid and agreed to pay well over $150 
million in bribes and kickbacks to obtain lucrative media and marketing rights to 
international soccer tournaments. 
 
The charges were announced by Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, Acting U.S. 
Attorney Kelly T. Currie of the Eastern District of New York, Director James B. Comey of 
the FBI, Assistant Director in Charge Diego W. Rodriguez of the FBIâ€™s New York Field 
Office, Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-
CI) and Special Agent in Charge Erick Martinez of the IRS-CIâ€™s Los Angeles Field Office. 
 
Also earlier this morning, Swiss authorities in Zurich arrested six of the defendants 
charged in the indictment, including Webb and five other FIFA officials, at the request of the 
United States.  Also this morning, a search warrant is being executed at CONCACAF 
headquarters in Miami, Florida. 
 
The guilty pleas of the four individual and two corporate defendants that were also 
unsealed today include the guilty pleas of Charles Blazer, the long-serving former general 
secretary of CONCACAF and former U.S. representative on the FIFA executive committee; 
JosÃ© Hawilla, the owner and founder of the Traffic Group, a multinational sports marketing 
conglomerate headquartered in Brazil; and two of Hawillaâ€™s companies, Traffic Sports 
International Inc. and Traffic Sports USA Inc., which is based in Florida. 
 
â€œThe indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both 
abroad and here in the United States,â€ said Attorney General Lynch.  â€œIt spans at least two 
generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire 
millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.  And it has profoundly harmed a multitude of 
victims, from the youth leagues and developing countries that should benefit from the 
revenue generated by the commercial rights these organizations hold, to the fans at home and 
throughout the world whose support for the game makes those rights valuable.  Todayâ€™s 
action makes clear that this Department of Justice intends to end any such corrupt practices, 
to root out misconduct, and to bring wrongdoers to justice â€“ and we look forward to 
continuing to work with other countries in this effort.â€   
 
Attorney General Lynch extended her grateful appreciation to the authorities of the 
government of Switzerland, as well as several other international partners, for their 
outstanding assistance in this investigation. 
 
â€œTodayâ€™s announcement should send a message that enough is enough,â€ said Acting 
U.S. Attorney Currie.  â€œAfter decades of what the indictment alleges to be brazen corruption, 
organized international soccer needs a new start â€“ a new chance for its governing institutions 
to provide honest oversight and support of a sport that is beloved across the world, 
increasingly so here in the United States.  Let me be clear: this indictment is not the final 
chapter in our investigation.â€    
 
Acting U.S. Attorney Currie extended his thanks to the agents, analysts and other 
investigative personnel with the FBI New York Eurasian Joint Organized Crime Squad and 
the IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office, as well as their colleagues abroad, for their tremendous 
effort in this case. 
 
â€œAs charged in the indictment, the defendants fostered a culture of corruption and 
greed that created an uneven playing field for the biggest sport in the world,â€ said Director 
Comey.  â€œUndisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks, and bribes became a way of doing 
business at FIFA.  I want to commend the investigators and prosecutors around the world 
who have pursued this case so diligently, for so many years.â€ 
 
â€œWhen leaders in an organization resort to cheating the very members that they are 
supposed to represent, they must be held accountable,â€ said Chief Weber.  â€œCorruption, tax 
evasion and money laundering are certainly not the cornerstones of any successful 
business.  Whether you call it soccer or football, the fans, players and sponsors around the 
world who love this game should not have to worry about officials corrupting their 
sport.  This case isn't about soccer, it is about fairness and following the law.  IRS-CI will 
continue to investigate financial crimes and follow the money wherever it may lead around 
the world, leveling the playing field for those who obey the law.â€ 
 
The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed 
innocent unless and until proven guilty. 
 
The Enterprise 
 
            FIFA is composed of 209 member associations, each representing organized soccer in 
a particular nation or territory, including the United States and four of its overseas 
territories.  FIFA also recognizes six continental confederations that assist it in governing 
soccer in different regions of the world.  The U.S. Soccer Federation is one of 41 member 
associations of the confederation known as CONCACAF, which has been headquartered in 
the United States throughout the period charged in the indictment.  The South American 
confederation, called CONMEBOL, is also a focus of the indictment.   
 
            As alleged in the indictment, FIFA and its six continental confederations, together 
with affiliated regional federations, national member associations and sports marketing 
companies, constitute an enterprise of legal entities associated in fact for purposes of the 
federal racketeering laws.  The principal â€“ and entirely legitimate â€“ purpose of the enterprise 
is to regulate and promote the sport of soccer worldwide. 
 
            As alleged in the indictment, one key way the enterprise derives revenue is to 
commercialize the media and marketing rights associated with soccer events and 
tournaments.  The organizing entity that owns those rights â€“ as FIFA and CONCACAF do 
with respect to the World Cup and Gold Cup, their respective flagship tournaments â€“ sells 
them to sports marketing companies, often through multi-year contracts covering multiple 
editions of the tournaments.  The sports marketing companies, in turn, sell the rights 
downstream to TV and radio broadcast networks, major corporate sponsors and other sub-
licensees who want to broadcast the matches or promote their brands.  The revenue generated 
from these contracts is substantial: according to FIFA, 70% of its $5.7 billion in total 
revenues between 2011 and 2014 was attributable to the sale of TV and marketing rights to 
the 2014 World Cup. 
 
The Racketeering Conspiracy 
 
            The indictment alleges that, between 1991 and the present, the defendants and their 
co-conspirators corrupted the enterprise by engaging in various criminal activities, including 
fraud, bribery and money laundering.  Two generations of soccer officials abused their 
positions of trust for personal gain, frequently through an alliance with unscrupulous sports 
marketing executives who shut out competitors and kept highly lucrative contracts for 
themselves through the systematic payment of bribes and kickbacks.  All told, the soccer 
officials are charged with conspiring to solicit and receive well over $150 million in bribes 
and kickbacks in exchange for their official support of the sports marketing executives who 
agreed to make the unlawful payments. 
 
            Most of the schemes alleged in the indictment relate to the solicitation and receipt of 
bribes and kickbacks by soccer officials from sports marketing executives in connection with 
the commercialization of the media and marketing rights associated with various soccer 
matches and tournaments, including FIFA World Cup qualifiers in the CONCACAF region, 
the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the CONCACAF Champions League, the jointly organized 
CONMEBOL/CONCACAF Copa AmÃ©rica Centenario, the CONMEBOL Copa AmÃ©rica, the 
CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores and the Copa do Brasil, which is organized by the Brazilian 
national soccer federation (CBF).  Other alleged schemes relate to the payment and receipt of 
bribes and kickbacks in connection with the sponsorship of CBF by a major U.S. sportswear 
company, the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 FIFA 
presidential election. 
 
The Indicted Defendants 
 
            As set forth in the indictment, the defendants and their co-conspirators fall generally 
into three categories: soccer officials acting in a fiduciary capacity within FIFA and one or 
more of its constituent organizations; sports media and marketing company executives; and 
businessmen, bankers and other trusted intermediaries who laundered illicit payments. 
 
            Nine of the defendants were FIFA officials by operation of the FIFA statutes, as well 
as officials of one or more other bodies: 
 
ï‚· Jeffrey Webb: Current FIFA vice president and executive committee member, 
CONCACAF president, Caribbean Football Union (CFU) executive committee 
member and Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) president. 
 
ï‚· Eduardo Li: Current FIFA executive committee member-elect, CONCACAF 
executive committee member and Costa Rican soccer federation (FEDEFUT) 
president. 
 
ï‚· Julio Rocha: Current FIFA development officer.  Former Central American 
Football Union (UNCAF) president and Nicaraguan soccer federation (FENIFUT) 
president. 
 
ï‚· Costas Takkas: Current attachÃ© to the CONCACAF president.  Former CIFA 
general secretary. 
 
ï‚· Jack Warner: Former FIFA vice president and executive committee member, 
CONCACAF president, CFU president and Trinidad and Tobago Football 
Federation (TTFF) special adviser. 
 
ï‚· Eugenio Figueredo: Current FIFA vice president and executive committee 
member.  Former CONMEBOL president and Uruguayan soccer federation (AUF) 
president. 
 
ï‚· Rafael Esquivel: Current CONMEBOL executive committee member and 
Venezuelan soccer federation (FVF) president. 
 
ï‚· JosÃ© Maria Marin: Current member of the FIFA organizing committee for the 
Olympic football tournaments.  Former CBF president. 
 
ï‚· NicolÃ¡s Leoz: Former FIFA executive committee member and CONMEBOL 
president. 
 
            Four of the defendants were sports marketing executives: 
 
ï‚· Alejandro Burzaco: Controlling principal of Torneos y Competencias S.A., a 
sports marketing business based in Argentina, and its affiliates. 
 
ï‚· Aaron Davidson: President of Traffic Sports USA Inc. (Traffic USA). 
 
ï‚· Hugo and Mariano Jinkis: Controlling principals of Full Play Group S.A., a sports 
marketing business based in Argentina, and its affiliates. 
 
            And one of the defendants was in the broadcasting business but allegedly served as an 
intermediary to facilitate illicit payments between sports marketing executives and soccer 
officials: 
 
ï‚· JosÃ© Margulies:  Controlling principal of Valente Corp. and Somerton Ltd. 
 
The Convicted Individuals and Corporations 
 
            The following individuals and corporations previously pleaded guilty under seal: 
 
            On July 15, 2013, the defendant Daryll Warner, son of defendant Jack Warner and a 
former FIFA development officer, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a two-count 
information charging him with wire fraud and the structuring of financial transactions.   
             
            On Oct. 25, 2013, the defendant Daryan Warner waived indictment and pleaded guilty 
to a three-count information charging him with wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering 
conspiracy and the structuring of financial transactions.  Daryan Warner forfeited over $1.1 
million around the time of his plea and has agreed to pay a second forfeiture money judgment 
at the time of sentencing. 
 
            On Nov. 25, 2013, the defendant Charles Blazer, the former CONCACAF general 
secretary and a former FIFA executive committee member, waived indictment and pleaded 
guilty to a 10-count information charging him with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud 
conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, income tax evasion and failure to file a Report of 
Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).  Blazer forfeited over $1.9 million at the time 
of his plea and has agreed to pay a second amount to be determined at the time of sentencing.   
 
            On Dec. 12, 2014, the defendant JosÃ© Hawilla, the owner and founder of the Traffic 
Group, the Brazilian sports marketing conglomerate, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to 
a four-count information charging him with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, 
money laundering conspiracy and obstruction of justice.  Hawilla also agreed to forfeit over 
$151 million, $25 million of which was paid at the time of his plea. 
 
            On May 14, 2015, the defendants Traffic Sports USA Inc. and Traffic Sports 
International Inc. pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. 
 
            All money forfeited by the defendants is being held in reserve to ensure its availability 
to satisfy any order of restitution entered at sentencing for the benefit of any individuals or 
entities that qualify as victims of the defendantsâ€™ crimes under federal law. 
 
* * * * 
 
The indictment unsealed today has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge 
Raymond J. Dearie of the Eastern District of New York. 
 
The indicted and convicted individual defendants face maximum terms of 
incarceration of 20 years for the RICO conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money 
laundering conspiracy, money laundering and obstruction of justice charges.  In addition, 
Eugenio Figueredo faces a maximum term of incarceration of 10 years for a charge of 
naturalization fraud and could have his U.S. citizenship revoked.  He also faces a maximum 
term of incarceration of five years for each tax charge.  Charles Blazer faces a maximum term 
of incarceration of 10 years for the FBAR charge and five years for the tax evasion charges; 
and Daryan and Daryll Warner face maximum terms of incarceration of 10 years for 
structuring financial transactions to evade currency reporting requirements.  Each individual 
defendant also faces mandatory restitution, forfeiture and a fine.  By the terms of their plea 
agreements, the corporate defendants face fines of $500,000 and one year of probation. 
 
The governmentâ€™s investigation is ongoing. 
 
The governmentâ€™s case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Evan M. 
Norris, Amanda Hector, Darren A. LaVerne, Samuel P. Nitze, Keith D. Edelman and Brian 
D. Morris of the Eastern District of New York, with assistance provided by the Justice 
Departmentâ€™s Office of International Affairs and Organized Crime and Gang Section. 
 
The Indicted Defendants: 
 
ALEJANDRO BURZACO 
Age:  50 
Nationality: Argentina 
 
AARON DAVIDSON 
Age:  44 
Nationality: USA 
 
RAFAEL ESQUIVEL 
Age:  68 
Nationality: Venezuela 
 
EUGENIO FIGUEREDO 
Age:   83 
Nationality: USA, Uruguay 
 
HUGO JINKIS 
Age:   70 
Nationality: Argentina 
 
MARIANO JINKIS 
Age:   40 
Nationality: Argentina 
 
NICOLÃS LEOZ 
Age:   86 
Nationality: Paraguay 
 
EDUARDO LI 
Age:   56 
Nationality: Costa Rica 
 
JOSÃ‰ MARGULIES, also known as JosÃ© Lazaro 
Age:   75 
Nationality: Brazil 
 
JOSÃ‰ MARIA MARIN 
Age:   83 
Nationality: Brazil 
 
JULIO ROCHA 
Age:   64 
Nationality: Nicaragua 
 
COSTAS TAKKAS 
Age:   58 
Nationality: United Kingdom 
 
JACK WARNER 
Age:   72 
Nationality: Trinidad and Tobago 
 
JEFFREY WEBB 
Age:   50 
Nationality: Cayman Islands 
 
The Convicted Defendants: 
 
CHARLES BLAZER 
Age:   70 
Nationality: USA 
 
JOSÃ‰ HAWILLA 
Age:   71 
Nationality: Brazil 
 
DARYAN WARNER 
Age:   46 
Nationality: Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada 
 
DARYLL WARNER 
Age:   40 
Nationality: USA, Trinidad and Tobago 
 
TRAFFIC SPORTS INTERNATIONAL INC. 
Registered:  British Virgin Islands 
 
TRAFFIC SPORTS USA INC. 
Registered:  USA 
 
E.D.N.Y. Docket Numbers: 
 
United States v. Daryll Warner, 13 Cr. 402 (WFK) 
United States v. Daryan Warner, 13 Cr. 584 (WFK) 
United States v. Charles Blazer, 13 Cr. 602 (RJD) 
United States v. JosÃ© Hawilla, 14 Cr. 609 (RJD) 
United States v. Traffic Sports International, Inc., 14 Cr. 609 (RJD) 
United States v. Traffic Sports USA, Inc., 14 Cr. 609 (RJD)  
United States v. Jeffrey Webb et al., 15 Cr. 252 (RJD)