Chicago-based U.S. Soccer Federation responds to FIFA scandal

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The ABC7 I-Team has been looking into a criminal scandal that is rocking world soccer. Fourteen people have been charged in what one prosecutor calls "the World Cup of corruption."

The Federation International De Football Association is the governing body of all things soccer, and on Wednesday, FIFA has been given a red card by the U.S. Department of Justice. Actually, 14 red cards effectively banishing 14 top officials of FIFA and several leading sports marketing executives with racketeering and corruption involving more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks.

In 1994, when Oprah and President Bill Clinton headlined Chicago's World Cup opening ceremonies, FIFA's corruption scheme had already been underway for three years, according to federal prosecutors. Senior world soccer executives are now charged with enriching themselves through the corruption of international soccer.

"They took a soccer enterprise and turned it into criminal enterprise," said U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

On Wednesday in Switzerland, they were arrested, or at least some FIFA executives rousted from the luxury hotel where the soccer organization was holding its annual meeting, and then in Miami, FIFA's North American headquarters was raided by federal officers with search warrants for records and electronic files.

The investigation began with allegations of payoffs to officials who decided where to hold World Cup events.

"What they did have in common was greed. Greed that drove them to use and exploit their positions for cash," said Kelly T. Currie, acting U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of New York.

With photos - such as $40,000 in bribe cash once paid to influence FIFA's presidential election - the ax falling on FIFA was not a total surprise, but the scope of the criminal allegations is breathtaking.

"To read it is to almost read a litany of all the different ways you can bribe somebody, the scope of it is really astonishing," said Gil Soffer, ABC7 Legal Analyst.

The U.S. Soccer Federation, a FIFA member, responded from their headquarters in Chicago, releasing a statement that read:

The United States Soccer Federation firmly believes there is no higher priority, and nothing more important, than protecting the integrity of our game. We are committed to the highest ethical standards and business practices, and we will continue to encourage CONCACAF and FIFA to promote the same values. Out of respect for the ongoing investigation, we will not speculate or comment further on this matter at this time.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch says the U.S. has jurisdiction because many of the bribes took place on U.S. soil. Lynch says the bribery began in 1991.

Oddly, that is the very same year the U.S. Soccer Federation moved its national offices from Colorado to a stone mansion on Prairie Avenue in Chicago.