The FIFA corruption scandal has claimed another round of top officials from soccer's international governing body. The New York Times reports that as a result of a pre-dawn raid, led early Thursday morning by American officials, sixteen people were arrested and are now expected to be charged in connection with the corruption scandal that has rocked the international soccer world in recent months.
Per the Times, at least "some" of the arrests took place at the same Zurich hotel, which was the site of a previous round of FIFA official's arrests. Swiss police, said to be targeting "current and former senior soccer officials" on charges "including racketeering, money laundering and fraud," reportedly entered the hotel's lobby at about 6 a.m. through a side door.
Matt Apuzzo of the Times reports that the "biggest hit" in terms of Thursday's charges will be to Central and South America soccer.
The Attorney General currently has a 1:30 p.m. news conference planned.
Attorney General plans 1:30 pm EST news conference on FIFA. So far, US only names Napout and Hawit. I'm told it's 12 names by day's end.
— Matt Apuzzo (@mattapuzzo) December 3, 2015
"FIFA became aware of the actions taken today by the U.S. Department of Justice," FIFA said in a statement addressing the reports, per the Times. "FIFA will continue to cooperate fully with the U.S. investigation as permitted by Swiss law, as well as with the investigation being led by the Swiss Office of the Attorney General."
According to a Justice Department news release, Alfredo Hawit of Honduras - the present of CONCACAF - and Juan ángel Napout of Paraguay - the president of CONMEBOL - were among those charged. Hawit and Napout are both "vice presidents and members of the organization's governing executive committee."
Hawit took over control of CONCACAF last spring after his predecessor, Jeffery Webb, was indicted. The two CONMEBOL presidents prior to Napout, were indicted as well.
Other names - Marco Polo del Nero and Ricardo Teixeira - have come out in the past couple of hours as well, though the U.S. has not confirmed that they will be charged as of yet. del Nero and Teixeira are the current and former presidents of Brazilian soccer.
The Times even managed to collect a short video, allegedly showing one of the arrests in the early morning hours Thursday.
From @SamBorden, a quick look at one of the FIFA arrests this morning in Zurich https://t.co/0KUQZ5YEx6 pic.twitter.com/VAMkybHHQo
— NYT Sports (@NYTSports) December 3, 2015
