By Paul Nicholson
August 14 – FIFA had advance warning of the impeding US Department of Justice assault on corrupt officials within its organisation and had taken steps to defend itself via an agreement with top US law firm Quinn Emmanuel.
A document titled ‘Order confirmation on the defense of the interests of FIFA against the DOJ’ was signed between the two parties on December 19, 2014, 159 days before police swooped on the Baur au Lac Hotel in Zurich arresting seven officials on May 27, 2015, days before the FIFA Congress was about to be held.
The document, uncovered by German news magazine Der Spiegel, raises questions over how many within FIFA knew of the US investigations, and if they were already co-operating with them.
Certainly FIFA needed to protect itself against the accusations of the DoJ that it was a criminal organisation (mafia was the term used when the indictments were issued) but how far in advance did FIFA know that it was the subject of a RICO investigation?
The wording of the document signed for representation in the case of this specific allegation with Quinn Emmanuel suggests more than 159 days. Though it could be argued that it was prudent legal ‘insurance’ by FIFA head of legal Marco Villager.
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter says that he knew nothing of the agreement and had no prior warning of the US indictments against more than 40 FIFA officials and executives in related confederations in North and South America. He claims to Der Spiegel that it was part of a plot by disloyal colleagues and employees to remove him as president.
While there were clearly forces lined up against Blatter and his regime prior to the arrests, his claims are a little hard to believe. FIFA had reportedly privately warned some executives of travel to the US prior to the arrests and to update their personal security around their communications. This included CONCACAF president Jeff Webb (the highest profile of those arrested) employing his own personal security who were visible at CONCACAF’s congress in the Bahamas in 2015 and travelled with him in the region.
Blatter did not sign the document with Quinn Emmanuel. Villiger, general secretary Jerome Valcke and finance director Markus Kattner all signed. Kattner says he does not remember the contract among so many that crossed his desk. He told Der Spiegel: “If I had seen the stamp of approval of the legal director then I would have signed the document in all confidence.”
For FIFA it was ultimately a smart move to have Quinn Emmanuel on-board as it was important for the organisation to hold ‘victim’ status in the eyes of the US authorities – it is better for FIFA for its executives to be the hunted rather than the organisation itself. But how far Villiger and others had co-operated with the US authorities before the May 2015 bomb dropped is not revealed.
Certainly it was a good deal for Quinn Emmanuel who on an hourly rate of up to CHF 970 have billed millions and established a Swiss presence through partner Thomas Werlen, reported to be a close friend of Blatter’s personal lawyer Peter Noble.
If you were to pick a US law firm to represent you in the face of US justice allegations the Quinn Emmanuel would undoubtedly be at the top or near the top of that list. With the US legal process often being as much about negotiation as it is about criminal proceedings, the question remains as to how much negotiation was being done before the swoop on Zurich. And, perhaps more pertinently, what those negotiations covered and who FIFA’s players in that game were.
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