Pirate: 70-year-old multi-millionaire Chuck Blazer helped build the sport's popularity and was a key part of moves to bring the World Cup to the US in 1994 but resigned from FIFA in 2013 amid allegations of corruption
I called the FBI in New York. ‘I have got the can-opener on Blazer,’ I said. ‘Shall I send them to you, or should they go to the Internal Revenue Service?’ An hour later the email arrived from Federal Plaza: ‘We cannot tell you what to do, Sir – but we would sure love to see them.’ I did the story in July 2011. I emailed Mr Blazer and put the allegations to him. Tersely, he denied everything. He added: ‘You are useless as a journalist.’ At that moment I knew he was going to jail. He hasn’t yet. But days later he became a co-operating witness.
Since then Mr Blazer has ratted on a legion of Fifa officials and exposed crooked marketing deals in Brazil and Argentina involving tens of millions of dollars.
Some of the alleged thieves are today in a Zurich jail where they have time to ponder before facing extradition proceedings to America to stand trial. Already several have called the FBI and told them to bring their recorders and notebooks.
In 2002 I had started digging into FIFA, expecting to find a few bad apples. As I learned more, I sensed a huge kickback fraud on the sale of World Cup marketing and TV rights. But I needed documents from inside Mr Blatter’s fortress on a hill above Zurich. And I had to create sources deep in his kingdom. This is how it’s done.
I went to his next press conference. The auditorium was lined with robotic-looking Fifa officials in blazers. I knew many were unhappy about his dictatorial ways. Many of the women were tired of being patted. They were my target. I had to signal to them that if they gave me the bullets, I would fire them.
Well connected: Chuck Blazer pictured with HIllary Clinton. The former FIFA official faces jail over corruption charges but there are claims that by that time he had spent two years building a stash of evidence against his colleagues - allegedly helping investigators to grasp the full scale of decades of corruption at FIFA
I grabbed the roving mic in the auditorium and asked: ‘Herr Blatter, have you ever taken a bribe?’ No reporter had ever dared suggest to Mr Blatter’s face that he might be corrupt. Furious at not being addressed as ‘President,’ he stuttered: ‘I have never taken a bribe.’ That gave me a headline in the next day’s Daily Mail – ‘Blatter denies taking a bribe.’ He was in play, I had roughed him up in front of his staff. The sources began to leak vast amounts of documents. A decade later, they still do.
They slipped me documents revealing that Mr Blatter pays himself a secret six-figure bonus every year. I published and the next day was the only reporter in the world banned by Mr Blatter. Twelve years later I still am.
HE frightened off other reporters by announcing my story was false and that he would sue. He didn’t. We still have not discovered how much he pays himself in salary, perks and bonuses. It’s a Fifa secret. My sources say $15 million (£9.8 million).
THE FAT CAT WHO KEPT A $6,000-A-MONTH APARTMENT JUST FOR HIS CATS
Chuck Blazer, 70, who lived an extremely lavish lifestyle with his 'untold millions', helped build the sport's popularity and was a key part of moves to bring the World Cup to the US in 1994.
But in 2013, the multi-millionaire resigned from FIFA amid allegations of corruption, which the U.S. Justice Department yesterday revealed he had pleaded guilty to and therefore faces up to 15 years in prison.
There are claims that by that time, he had spent two years building a stash of evidence against his colleagues - allegedly helping investigators to grasp the full scale of decades of corruption at FIFA.
It is alleged that he also used the 2012 London Olympics as a major stage for evidence gathering, apparently setting up meetings with top officials at the FBI's behest at which he is said to have used hidden microphones to record incriminating conversations.
Blazer's pricey 49th floor apartment had a $6,000-a-month connecting condo that he used to house his 'unruly cats'
The successful businessman, who tips the scales at more than 400 pounds and once rented two apartments at New York's famous Trump Towers (one of which was solely for his cats to live in), agreed to work with the FBI in 2011 after he was confronted over his failure to pay taxes since 1996.
He also is known as 'Mr. 10 Percent', for his employment contracts that included 10 percent commissions on any deals he negotiated.
As the first American to serve as a FIFA executive in nearly 50 years, Blazer built a reputation as an eccentric, but hugely successful businessman who, despite an often unruly experience, had a penchant for the high life and a credit card bill that alone topped $29million.
During his his time with FIFA and Concacaf, Blazer spent millions of dollars, snapping up apartments in Miami and the Bahamas.
He also forked out for private jets, luxury vacations, expensive restaurants, star-studded events, and an $18,000-per-month unit in Trump Towers, which boasted sweeping views of Central Park.
Blazer's pricey 49th floor apartment had a $6,000-a-month connecting condo that he used to house his 'unruly cats', it is reported. Concacaf's offices were based on the building's 17th floor.
The arrogant Mr Blatter probably doesn’t realise he is heading an organised crime family. But it is a classic structure. He deploys the billions Fifa earns from the World Cup in barely audited multi-million dollar ‘development grants’.
Then there’s the World Cup tickets to sell into the black market. My sources gave me documents listing $100 million (£65 million) in bribes to the most senior Fifa officials. They were paid though secretive Liechtenstein trusts and nominee bank accounts.
When Fifa’s dark forces threatened one female witness, I called the FBI. They were on her doorstep later that day. They debriefed her for three days – and that evidence is not in last week’s first indictment. Some thuggish insiders at Fifa should worry.
Mr Blatter has surely known for years about the FBI investigation. I don’t know when he will be arrested but there is an incredible amount of new evidence for the FBI to analyse. Then they will have to take it to a grand jury. Is it possible that Sepp Blatter is already one of the several co-operating witnesses as yet unnamed? Anything is possible.
l Andrew Jennings’ latest book, Omerta: Sepp Blatter’s Fifa Organised Crime Family is at transparencybooks.com
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