7 FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption & Bribery Charges (Update: 14 People Indicted)

WHAT A SHOCK, FIFA IS CORRUPT …

Seven top FIFA officials were arrested overnight in a posh Zurich hotel. The raid was conducted as a part of a corruption probe allegations of bribery totaling more than £100m over past 25 years.

The most significant arrest was that of Jeffrey Webb, the vice president of the executive committee, who has previously been hailed by Blatter as a potential successor.

Other officials held by Swiss police include Eduardio Li, President of the Costa Rica Football Association, and Rafael Esquivel, President of the Venezuelan Football Federation, Jose Maria Marin, vice-president of the Brazil Football Federation, Costas Takkas, a former general secretary of the Cayman Islands Football Association, and Jose Maria Marin, vice-president of the Brazil Football Federation.

VIDEO – CNN

New York Times:

Swiss authorities conducted an extraordinary early-morning operation here Wednesday to arrest several top soccer officials and extradite them to the United States on federal corruption charges.

As leaders of FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, gathered for their annual meeting, more than a dozen plain-clothed Swiss law enforcement officials arrived unannounced at the Baur au Lac hotel, an elegant five-star property with views of the Alps and Lake Zurich. They went to the front desk to get room numbers and then proceeded upstairs.

The arrests were carried out peacefully. One FIFA official, Eduardo Li of Costa Rica, was led by the authorities from his room to a side-door exit of the hotel. He was allowed to bring his luggage, which was adorned with FIFA logos.

The arrests were carried out peacefully. One FIFA official, Eduardo Li of Costa Rica, was led by the authorities from his room to a side-door exit of the hotel. He was allowed to bring his luggage, which was adorned with FIFA logos.

The charges, backed by an F.B.I. investigation, allege widespread corruption in FIFA over the past two decades, involving bids for World Cups as well as marketing and broadcast deals.

CNN – U.S. arrests officials, Switzerland opens separate investigation.

Department of Justice announced the unsealing of a 47-count indictment in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, that detailed charges against 14 people of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. They include FIFA officials accused of taking bribes totaling more than $150 million and in return provided “lucrative media and marketing rights” to soccer tournaments as kickbacks over the past 24 years.

“The defendants fostered a culture of corruption and greed that created an uneven playing field for the biggest sport in the world,” FBI Director James Comey said in a news release. “Undisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks and bribes became a way of doing business at FIFA.”

UPDATE I: Fifa corruption live: David Cameron calls for Sepp Blatter to stand down.

UPDATE II: Sepp Blatter’s FIFA Reign of Shame.

It is not true that everything has gotten worse in global soccer under Blatter. Safety has improved and, yes, the World Cup has been held in Africa. But just about everything has. To conclude that Blatter should quit rather than embark on a fifth term as FIFA president (assuming his seemingly inevitable election to a fifth term on Friday) feels so blindingly obvious that it’s not worth saying. But then the FIFA president is so thick-skinned it’s actually worth saying twice: Mr. Blatter, your time is up.

Why? Because the corruption charges against current and former FIFA vice presidents and others reflect an organization rotten to its core, operating in the absence of any meaningful oversight, without term limits for a president whose salary is of course unknown (but estimated by Bloomberg to be “in the low double-digit” millions), overseeing $5.72 billion in partially unaccounted revenue for the four years to December 2014, governing a sport in which matches and World Cup venues and in fact just about everything appears to have been up for sale, burying a report it commissioned by a former United States attorney into the bidding process for the next two World Cups, and generally operating in a culture of cavalier disdain personified by Blatter, whose big cash awards to soccer federations in poorer countries have turned the delegates from many of FIFA’s 209 member associations into his fawning acolytes.

UPDATE III: FIFA Arrests: Meet the 14 People Indicted by the Department of Justice.

The 14 people indicted in the global crackdown of FIFA corruption covers a dozen nationalities, although authorities allege the crimes and payments were carried out in the U.S. via American banks.

Seven were arrested in Zurich by Swiss authorities at the request of the U.S. Four other individuals and corporate defendants Traffic Sports USA Inc., Traffic Sports International Inc. and Brazilian sports marketing conglomerate the Traffic Group have already pleaded guilty, according to an indictment unsealed today.

1. Jeffrey Webb, 50, Cayman Islands:
2. Jack Warner, 72, Trinidad and Tobago:
3. Aaron Davidson, 44, USA:
4. Nicholas Leoz, 86, Paraguay:
5. Eduardo Li, 56, Costa Rica:
6. Alejandro Burzaco, 50, Argentina:
7. Eugenio Figueredo, 83, USA and Uruguay:
8. Jose Maria Marin, 83, Brazil:
9. Julio Rocha, 64, Nicaragua:
10. Rafael Esquivel, 68, Venezuela:
11. Costas Takkas, 58, United Kingdom:
12. Hugo Jinkis, 70, Argentina:
13. Mariano Jinkis, 40, Argentina:
14. José Margulies, 75, Brazil:

Clinton Foundation Reveals $26 Million in Additional Payments of Previously Undisclosed Donations from Major Corporations, Universities & Foreign Sources

MORE CLINTON CORRUPTION …

If Hillary Clinton cannot run a foundation in an ethical manner, how the hell can anyone think or believe that she could run a country in kind? The Clinton Foundation is now revealing, ahead of the long Memorial Day holiday weekend, an undisclosed $24 million of additional payments from major corporations, universities and foreign sources.  How Clintonian. There is no way that this woman should ever be elected President. Character has to matter, ethics have to matter, being able to remotely tell the truth has to matter … Hillary Clinton has none. The Clinton Foundation has been nothing more than a “slush fund” for the Clinton’s to become rich. We also recently learned that apart from the Foundation, the Clinton’s made $25 million in speaking fees since January 2014. Quite the Democrat populist candidate, ain’t she?

The Clinton Foundation reported Thursday that it has received as much as $26.4 million in previously undisclosed payments from major corporations, universities, foreign sources and other groups.

The disclosure came as the foundation faced questions over whether it fully complied with a 2008 ethics agreement to reveal its donors and whether any of its funding sources present conflicts of interest for Hillary Rodham Clinton as she begins her presidential campaign.

The money was paid as fees for speeches by Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. Foundation officials said the funds were tallied internally as “revenue” rather than donations, which is why they had not been included in the public listings of its contributors published as part of the 2008 agreement.

According to the new information, the Clintons have delivered 97 speeches to benefit the charity since 2002. Colleges and universities sponsored more than two dozen of these speeches, along with U.S. and overseas corporations and at least one foreign government, Thailand.

The payments were disclosed late Thursday on the organization’s Web site, with speech payments listed in ranges rather than specific amounts. In total, the payments ranged between $12 million and $26.4 million.

This becomes a major issue when payola for influence peddling is received by an individual who is running for the President of the United States, especially when she tried to hide who was making the donations. So much for transparency.

There’s nothing wrong with people cashing in. But when that person is the likely Democratic nominee, it raises questions.

That Hillary would be the nominee has been presumed for several years, so these payoffs take on a different meaning than the fat fees paid to speakers routinely. By classifying the payments as “revenue” instead of “donations,” the Clinton Foundation shielded the identity of the donors.

Powerline discusses another reason why Hillary Clinton should never be president.

US Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) Wants a Pay Raise and a Congressional Living Wage …

US Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) wants a Congressional living wage …

You wonder why Congress has a 15% approval rating? Not only does Congress not do anything, only seem interested in maintaining their own power and when you count up the days work only about 1/2 a year … now US Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) wants a pay raise. Watch the VIDEO below of Hasting whining about his pay and saying that he thinks that Congress deserves a raise. Really? Congress makes $174,000 a year for working far less days than your average American. He thinks that this is not being paid properly. These people have helped destroy this country and now they want to be rewarded? This previously disgraced and impeached judge should be tossed out of office and make to work in the private sector, one he helped ruin. CONGRESS DOES NOT DESERVE A RAISE, THEY DESERVE TO BE THROWN OUT OF OFFICE.

Rep. Alcee L. Hastings made the politically tone-deaf case for raising salaries for members of Congress Monday, pointing to the high cost of living in the District of Columbia.

“Members deserve to be paid, staff deserves to be paid and the cost of living here is causing serious problems for people who are not wealthy to serve in this institution,” the Florida Democrat said at a Rules Committee meeting, referring to the average member’s $174,000 annual salary. “We aren’t being paid properly,” he later added.

The committee was considering the fiscal 2016 Legislative Branch appropriations bill, which sets the spending levels for Congress and legislative branch agencies. The bill includes a freeze on member pay, continuing one that has been in place since 2010 — and last year drew the ire of then-Rep. James P. Moran.

Pay raise? You know these people are getting monies that are not apart of their actual salary. They can write books, do speeches, etc.  Sorry Alcee, HOW ABOUT YOU GET A REAL JOB IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR!!! PAY RAISE MY BUTT!!!

Maybe Hastings should go back to taking bribes?

LIAR!!! Hillary Clinton & Her Attorney David Kendall Caught in a Lie to the Benghazi Committee Regarding Clinton Email Accounts … hrod17@clintonemail.com

LIAR … HOW MANY LIES AND SCANDALS IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO DISCREDIT HILLARY CLINTON FROM RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT? HILLARY IS NOT FIT TO BE PRESIDENT

The New York Times, yes you read that correctly, the New York Times published Monday a story showing that while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used another private email address other than the one that she and her attorney claimed they did. The article shows that Hillary Clinton was using a second email account to conduct business, hrod17@clintonemail.com. That is what Hillary Clinton and her attorney David Kendall told the Benghazi Committee headed by Trey Gowdy (R-SC).

But what difference does it make that I am incapable of telling the truth?

The messages shown here are among roughly 900 pages of emails related to Libya that Hillary Rodham Clinton said she kept on the personal email account she used exclusively as secretary of state. These emails are related to memos she was sent in 2011 and 2012 by Sidney Blumenthal, a confidant who worked for the administration of former President Bill Clinton and who at the time was employed by the Clinton Foundation.

WE WERE TOLD THERE WAS NO SECOND EMAIL ADDRESS … GUESS WHAT AMERICA, HILLARY CLINTON LIED AGAIN.

Needless to say the DNC and the Benghazi Committee are very interested in this turn of events. However, it is the American people who should be more concerned. The below multiple emails show Hillary Clinton used the following email account “hrod17@clintonemail.com” while serving in the Obama administration as secretary of state.

Clinton’s attorney, David Kendall, had previously told Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) that that particular address had not “existed (see letter HERE) during Secretary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State. I guess it all depends on what “One” is or “Address” is.

“NOTE: On April 8, 2011, Clinton Messaged Jake Sullivan Using The Account ” hrod17@clintonemail.com. ”
(“Selected Libya-Related Messages From Hillary Clinton’s Personal Email Account,” The New York Times , 5/18/15)”

From the RNC

“NOTE: On January 5, 2012, Clinton Messaged Jake Sullivan Using The Account ” hrod17@clintonemail.com. ”
(“Selected Libya-Related Messages From Hillary Clinton’s Personal Email Account,” The New York Times , 5/18/15)”

From the RNC

“NOTE: On August 28, 2012, Clinton Messaged Jake Sullivan Using The Account ” hrod17@clintonemail.com. ”
(“Selected Libya-Related Messages From Hillary Clinton’s Personal Email Account,” The New York Times , 5/18/15)”

From the RNC

LIAR, LIAR!!!

In A Letter To Rep. Trey Gowdy, Clinton’s Attorney, David Kendall, Stated That ” hrod17@clintonemail.com ” Was “Not An Address That Existed During Secretary Clinton’s Tenure As Secretary Of State.”
(David E. Kendall, Letter To Rep. Trey Gowdy , 3/27/15)

UPDATE I: Benghazi probe to focus on role of Sidney Blumenthal:

Hillary Clinton forwarded unsubstantiated intelligence on Libya from a family ally to top officials at the State Department, according to documents obtained by The New York Times.

Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime Clinton family counselor and, according to the Times, an employee of the Clinton Foundation at the time, sent the intelligence reports based on information he had gathered while working as an adviser to Constellations Group, a private consultancy.

That relationship is now under scrutiny from Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi. Committee sources confirmed to POLITICO that Gowdy plans to subpoena Blumenthal for a private transcribed interview to discuss the memos and his role as an adviser to Clinton while she led the State Department.

FAUX Apology From ABC News George Stephanopoulos … Could He Have been More Sarcastic and Snarky?

This is what happens when you have a liberal media that does not punish their own for liberal media bias …

In the wake of the media bias scandal where ABC’s George Stephanopoulos failed to make it known that he had donated $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation and at the same time running cover for the Clinton Foundation amidst its own scandal of taking foreign money as she was Secretary of State, Georgy Porgy decided to apologize for his actions. If you call it an apology. But it was not just that George Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton White House political operative, donated money to the Clinton Foundation, Stephanopoulos acted as the Clinton defender when interviewing Peter Schweitzer on his book Clinton Cash and went after the author claiming that he was bias.

But check out the VIDEO below and the less than sincere apology. Listen to his snarky and elitist tone when he says, “Even though I made them strictly to support work done to stop the spread of AIDS, help children and protect the environment in poor countries, I should have gone the extra mile to avoid even the appearance of a conflict.” In his effort to make an apology he basically says, but look at me, I am great, because even though I made these donations to save the word, no the planet … I should have gone the extra mile. PLEASE GEORGY, SPARE US THE DRAMA. You knew damn well, being a former Clinton operative and a political news correspondent that the Clinton Foundation was nothing more than a slush fund. Would it really have been that difficult to do some research and investigation to find what were the best charities for Aids, helping children or the environment, if you were actually being sincere? After all, you are supposed to be some kind of correspondent for the media, is it that difficult to do a Google search of best charities?

But when you have a news organization like ABC News defending such actions of bias and a lack of transparency to protect their own agenda of liberal bias in the media, what would one expect from an ex-Clintonista but a hollow apology.

Transcript:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Now, I want to address some news you may have seen about me. Over the last several years, I have made substantial donations to dozens of charities, including the Clinton Global Foundation. Those donations were a matter of public record. But I should have made additional disclosures on-air when we covered the foundation and I now believe directing personal donations to that foundation was a mistake. Even though I made them strictly to support work done to stop the spread of AIDS, help children and protect the environment in poor countries, I should have gone the extra mile to avoid even the appearance of a conflict. I apologize to all of you for failing to do that.