I was bowled over by the support of the many international journalists who were patient enough to teach me a thing or two about the world’s most popular sport. In particular, I was aided by Martyn Ziegler, Richard Conway, Simon Evans, Andrew Jennings, and Tariq Panja in Britain; Jamil Chade in Switzerland; Martín Fernandez, Allan de Abreu, Sergio Rangel, and Juca Kfouri in Brazil; Diego Muñoz in Uruguay; Alejandro Casar González, Ezequiel Fernández Moores, Gustavo Veiga, and Marcela Mora y Araujo in Argentina; and Tim Elfrink, Kartik Krishnaiyer, Paul Kennedy, Brian Quarstad, and Clive Toye in the U.S.
Many non-journalists also pitched in, sharing knowledge, insights, and hospitality on my numerous reporting trips throughout Europe and North and South America. Patrick Nally was an extraordinary resource on the development of sports marketing, while Scott Parks LeTellier taught me more than I ever thought could be known about the 1994 World Cup. Ariel Neuman helped me understand the minds of prosecutors, while Judy Mahon and Jill Fracisco brought to life, in vivid detail, the inner workings of CONCACAF. Over tea and biscuits in his West End theater office, Greg Dyke provocatively asked me, “But who are the good guys in this story?” while David Dein, over tea and biscuits at the Wolseley, graciously suggested where I might look to actually find them.
The wonderful Baranzellis of Basel not only welcomed me into their home, but also nursed me out of one of the nastiest colds I’ve ever had. Likewise, my aunt, Jane Kanter, and uncle, Byron Cooper, offered me a place to stay in Manhattan and, boy, did I take them up on that. Florence Urling-Clark and Sophie Davidson opened their doors to me in London and environs, while Martin Plot and Anabel Wichmacki housed me in Buenos Aires and stuffed me with amazing asado.
Credit goes to my manager, Justin Manask, for having a vision of how far the seed of an idea could go and being one hundred percent correct. And to my agent, David Patterson, who shepherded that idea to Simon & Schuster and fielded many anxious phone calls. Within S&S, I want to thank Johanna Li for her patience and clarity, Jonathan Evans for his eagle eye, Lisa Rivlin for her sharp legal review, and Jonathan Karp for agreeing to bid on my proposal while my editor was on vacation. Bob Bender, my imperturbable editor, returned from that vacation with his trademark calm and good cheer to show me how mountains can be moved with a feather, and that too many characters is never, ever, a good thing.
I am indebted to Peter Nichols and David Jelenko at Lichter Grossman Nichols Adler & Feldman for holding my hand through several lengthy contract negotiations, and to Chantal Nong at Warner Brothers, Jennifer Todd at Pearl Street Films, and Guymon Cassidy and Darin Friedman at Management 360 for believing there might be a movie in all this soccer business. Thanks also to Gavin O’Connor and Anthony Tambakis for adding their creative vision to that project.
It would have been much more difficult for me to finish this book without the nurturing of friends and loved ones. Jason Felch stands out as a true friend with a great head for a story, while Jon Weinbach’s passion for obscure soccer trivia kept me inspired. Steve Kandell provided critical reads and several genius ideas late in the game, as did James Ellsworth and Harriet Ryan, while Laura Geiser rescued me from learning how to be a photo editor while on a screaming deadline.
The great newspaperman Shelby Grad was my own personal cheerleader throughout this process, and over countless bowls of steaming pho he gradually convinced me that writing a book might not be impossible after all. And there aren’t enough words to adequately thank my colleague and friend Jessica Garrison for all she did to get me through to the end.
My brother, Greg, has always been my best friend and was there whenever I needed to just talk. My father, Richard, has been a rock and a hero for my entire life and is a darn good writer to boot. And my mother, the best editor I’ve ever met, set me on this writing path long ago and never stopped inspiring me with her fire, passion, and creativity.
More than anyone, I want to thank my amazing family. My children, Mateo and Sofia, endured my many long absences, while always welcoming me home with boundless enthusiasm and hugs. And my loving, patient wife, Patricia, supported my decision to take this on, held the fort on my innumerable trips in search of just one more scrap of information, and soothed my nerves when nobody else could. She listened to me read my mangled prose, untangled me when I was stuck, and was simply always there. She is the best partner and friend I could ever desire. Now I’m glad to be home with her again.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF BUZZFEED
KEN BENSINGER has been a working journalist for twenty years, and a member of the BuzzFeed News investigations team since 2014. He has also worked at the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times, among other publications. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2010, in 2016 won a National Magazine Award, and twice won a Gerald Loeb Award for business and financial reporting. Fluent in Spanish, Bensinger lives with his wife, two children, and dog, Susana Gimenez, in Los Angeles.
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NOTES
A NOTE ON SOURCES
The long-running probe of corruption in soccer that burst into public view with the sensational arrests of May 27, 2015, quickly became one of the most widely publicized and closely watched sports scandals in history.
Three years, dozens of indictments, and one public trial later, the criminal case remains open. It is still being pursued as an active investigation, with American law enforcement agents continuing to dig. Criminal probes in other countries, including and especially Switzerland, are also ongoing.
Because the investigations are not closed, individuals with direct knowledge of their workings have proven extremely reluctant—and in many cases legally barred—to discuss them at any level of detail. As a result, gleaning information about the origins and development of the U.S. probe, which has informally come to be known as the FIFA Case and is the subject of this book, has proven a daunting and elusive task.
In order to produce this narrative, I was obliged to turn to numerous sources who agreed to talk only on condition that they be granted anonymity and that the information they supplied would not be attributed to them. A substantial portion of the story contained in this book is reliant on the generous contributions of these protected sources.
In almost all cases, I used the information they shared to develop second and third sources that could verify and amplify particular interactions, strategies, conversations, or aspects of the case; that in turn allowed me to return to my original sources to further refine their recollections. This process of comparing and reverifying allowed me to home in on the truth, identifying key dates, events, and locations. To the degree it was possible, I have attempted to protect the identity of my sources by getting others to fill in details about their thinking and backgrounds. Quotations that are unattributed in the Notes come from direct interviews and are not identified in order to honor my commitment to protect sources’ identities.
The five-week criminal trial of Juan Ángel Napout, José Maria Marin, and Manuel Burga that began in Brooklyn federal court on November 13, 2017, nearly all of which I observed in person, proved an invaluable resource for checking and confirming information contained in this book, as well as for expanding and sharpening my understanding of numerous aspects of the case. Close to fifteen hundred exhibits were admitted into evidence during the trial, ranging from photographs to ema
il correspondence to clandestine recordings, and many of those items were extremely helpful tools as well.
In addition, I also made use of thousands of pages of court filings, including the three highly detailed indictments and other charging documents from the FIFA Case, as well as files from dozens of other criminal and civil cases, arbitrations, corporate records, personal emails, handwritten notes, and other memoranda of meetings. Some of those documents are in the public domain; many others are not. Finally, I relied heavily on contemporaneous media accounts of many of the events described herein; without the daily contributions of the sporting press, this project would have been impossible.
Since it was secretly opened almost eight years ago, this investigation has involved what one defense attorney dubbed “Herculean” contributions from some two dozen federal prosecutors and investigators directly assigned to the case, as well as from hundreds of other American law enforcement officials who played smaller but vital roles, not to mention the part played by countless soccer officials and marketing executives entrenched in the murky and clubby world of international soccer. Capturing all the detail and nuance of a case so sprawling and complex would be an impossible endeavor at any length. Nonetheless, I believe this is the most complete and accurate accounting of the FIFA Case to date. I am deeply grateful for the generosity of those individuals who agreed to provide me so much invaluable assistance.
CHAPTER 1: BERRYMAN
the huge federal office building: The Chet Holifield Federal Building in Laguna Niguel houses local offices of numerous federal agencies, including the Social Security Administration, the National Archives and Records Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service. A brief history of this unusual architectural monument appears in Chet Holifield Federal Building: GSA’s Decision to Renovate and Retain Appears Appropriate (Washington: U.S. General Accounting Office, 1987).
an article by the Reuters news service: Hosenball, Mark. “FBI examines U.S. Soccer Boss’s Financial Records,” Reuters, August 16, 2011.
landed the county’s well-known sheriff: Berryman was one of a number of IRS and FBI agents involved in an investigation of Orange County sheriff Michael S. Carona that led to his indictment on corruption charges in late 2007. He was convicted of witness tampering in January 2009 and sentenced to sixty-eight months in prison.
critics accused the prosecution: There has been extensive legal, journalistic, and academic review of the U.S. criminal case, which was for months the most prominent criminal case in the world. See, for example, Cecily Rose, “The FIFA Corruption Scandal from the Perspective of Public International Law,” ASIL Insights, October 23, 2015.
represented its own kind of conspiracy: Beyond what has been recorded in the press, numerous soccer officials expressed this sentiment to me personally in the course of reporting; among them Sepp Blatter, the former president of FIFA, who believes the case was personally ordered up by President Barack Obama. Several white-collar lawyers representing defendants in the case evinced similar views, alleging that former attorney general Eric Holder opened the case at former president Bill Clinton’s behest.
CHAPTER 2: TICKLING THE WIRE
“The last time I did it in 12 minutes”: Charles Sale, “England 2018 Chairman Geoff Thompson’s Wife Ann Sees Her Woes Pile Up After a FIFA Crash,” Daily Mail, June 8, 2010.
South Africa spent more than $3 billion: Gerald Imray, “South Africa spent $3 billion on 2010 World Cup,” Associated Press, November 23, 2012. For a full accounting of South Africa’s expenditures, see “2010 FIFA World Cup Country Report,” November 23, 2012.
A handful of artificial turf soccer fields: Andrew Harding, “South Africa’s World Cup Advice to Brazil,” BBC, June 9, 2014. See also: Andrew Guest, “What’s the legacy of the 2010 World Cup?” Pacific Standard, June 10, 2014.
“We shall work for the next generation”: Graham Dunbar, “FIFA President Declares Re-election Bid,” Associated Press, June 10, 2010.
Steele had spent several years undercover: Steele became the subject of extensive media coverage beginning in January 2017 due to his authorship of memoranda alleging ties between President Donald J. Trump and the Russian government. Additional details about Steele’s background and business come, in part, from interviews with numerous associates, past and present, many of whom were granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of Steele’s activities and sources.
Steele had been retained: Information on Steele’s work for the England 2018 World Cup bid, as well as his suspicions about Russia’s activities, detailed on this and subsequent pages, comes in part from an eighteen-page submission in November 2014 by The Times of London to a British parliamentary committee investigating FIFA’s World Cup bidding process. That information was corroborated and substantiated by interviews and press accounts, including Mark Hosenball, “Former MI6 Spy Known to U.S. Agencies Is Author of Reports on Trump in Russia,” Reuters, January 11, 2017.
to a London tabloid: The exposé on Triesman was first published in an article by Ian Gallagher in The Mail on Sunday on May 16, 2010.
Special Agent Mike Gaeta: Descriptions of Gaeta come from numerous interviews with current and former law enforcement officials, including but not limited to John Buretta, a former federal prosecutor from the Eastern District of New York; Richard Frankel, a former FBI special agent in charge; and Dave Shafer, a former assistant special agent in charge in the FBI’s New York field office.
godfathers such as Vyacheslav Ivankov: Ivankov, a native of Georgia also known as “Yaponchik,” has been the subject of considerable literature and has been called “the father of extortion.” See, among others, James O. Finckenauer and Elin J. Waring, Russian Mafia in America: Immigration, Culture, and Crime (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1998).
the most intriguing figure was Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov: There is considerable information available about the alleged Russian organized crime figure known as Taiwanchik in the two criminal cases filed against him and others in New York’s Southern District. In addition, he has been the subject of extensive media coverage, including a 2013 interview conducted in a Moscow restaurant in which he proclaimed “I am not bad, like you think.” Andrew E. Kramer and James Glanz, “In Russia Living the High Life; in America, a Wanted Man,” New York Times, June 1, 2013.
CHAPTER 3: “HAVE YOU EVER TAKEN A BRIBE?”
“Have you ever taken a bribe?”: Michael E. Miller, “How a curmudgeonly old reporter exposed the FIFA scandal that toppled Sepp Blatter,” Washington Post, June 3, 2015.
At last, he thought: Jennings has recounted aspects of this first encounter with the FBI numerous times throughout the years, as, for example, in a first-person article published in The Mail on Sunday on May 31, 2015. Additional details were filled in by Jennings in the course of several interviews.
“the General Secretary, his wife”: This and some other quotes from Havelange come from the former FIFA president’s memoirs, some of which were published by FIFA on April 24, 1998, in preparation for his retirement.
had revenue of about $25 million: David Yallop, pp. 154–55.
Their vision was to bring in: Patrick Nally, in a series of interviews, provided an in-depth understanding of the project he and Dassler first brought to FIFA in the mid-1970s. That history has been widely recounted, but nowhere better than in Barbara Smit’s excellent and thoroughly researched Sneaker Wars.
Ethiopia on November 17, 1976: From A Guide to the FIFA/Coca Cola World Football Programmes, published by West Nally.
“that is what hotels are for”: Interview with Sepp Blatter, February 26, 2016.
“18 African voters accepted bribes”: Andrew Jennings, “Scandal at Fifa. Top African Official in Cash-for-Votes Claim Against President,” Daily Mail, February 28, 2002.
FIFA filed a criminal complaint: From “Swiss Prosecutors Close Investigations Against Blatter,” Deutsche Press-Agentur, December 4, 2002.
Hildbrand’s probe uncovered evidence: On May 11, 2010, the prosecutor�
��s office of the Canton of Zug dismissed its criminal proceedings against Havelange and Teixeira and released a 42-page order detailing the findings of its criminal investigation of “disloyal management to the detriment of Fédération Internationale de Football Association.” It found that both men had secretly accepted “commissions” from ISL, but that Swiss law allowed both men to avoid prosecution.
“The company would not have existed”: Andrew Jennings, “Fifa ‘Misled’ Detectives on Trail of Missing Pounds 45m,” Daily Telegraph, July 30, 2008.
CHAPTER 4: A GUY FROM QUEENS
“very special occasion”: Blazer detailed his travels, including the trip to Russia, in the travel blog he maintained, which originally was called “Travels with Chuck Blazer” and was later renamed “Travels with Chuck Blazer and His Friends.”
Born in 1945: Biographical information about Blazer here and in subsequent pages comes, in part, from Pappenfuss and Thompson, as well as several depositions from a 1984 civil lawsuit in New York Supreme Court against Blazer, Fred Singer Direct Marketing Inc. v. Charles Blazer, Susan Blazer and Windmill Promotions Inc. Additional information was gathered from my own reporting on Blazer in “Mr. Ten Percent: The Man Who Built—And Bilked—American Soccer,” BuzzFeed News, June 6, 2014.
Southern New York Youth Soccer Association: The SNYYSA was founded in 1972, but as it spread geographically to incorporate a larger swath of the state, the name no longer fit. In 1984 it was renamed the Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association, or ENYYSA, the name it carries to this day.
“There’s no magic”: Bill Varner, “Soccer Official Rises Through the Ranks,” Yonkers Herald Statesman, September 25, 1984.
paid himself a $48,000 salary: Information on Blazer’s income at the American Soccer League, as well as other details of his time working there, are drawn from a July 24, 1989, deposition of Blazer taken as part of a civil suit, Fred Singer Direct Marketing Inc. v. Charles Blazer, et al., before the New York Supreme Court, County of Westchester.
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