By DAN KARELL
Chuck Blazer’s secret dealings extended beyond soccer following his outing as CONCACAF general secretary in 2012.
The former FIFA executive committee member worked as an undercover informant for the FBI at a number of events in Europe, including the 2012 London Olympics, according to an expansive expose by the New York Daily News.
The Daily News’ report states that its investigation uncovered massive tax fraud and claims Blazer misallocated CONCACAF funds for his own personal use and set up meetings with other soccer executives to help the FBI once he was under investigation — meetings that led the FBI to file criminal charges against those officials.
Blazer allegedly failed to pay income tax in the U.S. for at least 10 years, all while earning eight figures per year from commissions in CONCACAF television and rights contracts.
The investigation also contains sworn statements from Blazer regarding his dealings with disgraced former CONCACAF president Jack Warner. Blazer gave the FBI his side of the story concerning the infamous Caribbean Football Union congress held by Warner in Trinidad and Tobago in May, 2011, which allegedly saw then-candidate Mohammed Bin Hammam hand out cash bribes to the delegates in attendance.
In 2013, a CONCACAF audit revealed that both Blazer and Warner were operating without a written contract since 1998. Blazer was suspended by FIFA for 90 days in 2013 as well.
The allegations in the investigation include taking more than $11 million in commissions from CONCACAF, misappropriating more than $15 million from the organization’s funds, and allowing and abetting more than $29 million in charges to accrue over seven years on CONCACAF’s American Express credit card.
Blazer, 69, is currently being treated for colon cancer and declined to comment on the allegations to the Daily News.
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What do you think of this report? Does it change your opinion of Blazer? Do you hope that more criminal investigations are opened?
Share your thoughts below.
I didn’t know John Goodman ever played Moses.
Of course,….Sunil Gulati who has been around CONCACAF and USSF since the early nineties , had no idea any of this was going on!
Everybody on the face of the planet knew it was going on. The problem was finding somebody who cared.
A wizard Harry!
Gosh Haggrid! You mean you’re a wizard!!? Holy quidditch sticks!
A $29 million Amex balance. Swish.
This is why it’s so funny to see Gulati acting so outraged at FIFA corruption. His American predecessor was one of the most corrupt officials.
Why shouldn’t he be outraged? It’s not like Kaczynski here was his homeboy. Dude was a crooked mess… no need to have his back.
he’s excused, he brought world soccer back to the US…..
No, he’s most definitely NOT excused.
That is a horrible moral universe you got there.
By the time it’s all said and done some poor FIFA minion will get fired and this a-hole’s wiki page will call him one of the good guys that brought Blatter down.
Hopefully what information they collect exposes Blatter and all the top FIFA execs for corruption. Every one of those fatcats is dirty.
Have Chuck Blazer and George Lucas ever been seen together?
amazing
haha.. this was a great read.
and yes.. this must be a movie sometime soon.. maybe just before the Russia or Qatar WC .. but they are going to have to come up with a better title than “Soccer Rat”
Blazer is hilariously archetype fatcat but he has his sides that are possibly admirable. no question he would make a very good movie character that you would love to hate and hate to love. We already have the previews ready to film:
“CONCACAF’s offices took up the entire 17th floor, but Blazer often worked from two apartments where he lived on the 49th floor in $18,000-per-month digs for himself and an adjoining $6,000 retreat largely for his unruly cats,”
“pair (Blazer & Warner) spoke constantly, socialized frequently, hit the strip clubs in tandem, and shared in the easy money flowing around them.”
“Blazer’s career as a federal undercover began on a November evening in 2011. The morbidly obese businessman was zipping along Fifth Ave. to a pricey Manhattan restaurant aboard one of his motorized scooters — a typical night on the town for Blazer …Trailing the big man were federal agents”
and then.. hopefully we get an interesting ending with a lot of reform as a result of the recent trials, etc.
I see Zach Galifianakis as a young Chuck Blazer. Can’t you just see him in a tiny apartment wondering what he’s going to do with all his cats?
Crazy cat guy, too? This story keeps getting better and better.
Agreed: this has the makings of a movie and it is mind-boggling how this guy is not in prison!!
A movie, huh? A sequel to that other FIFA movie?
The one that cost hundreds of millions and has raked in tens of dollars? Most of the money was probably spent on bonuses for FIFA executives to make up for lost bribes and this new thing, taxes or whatever it is called.
Probably hid the wire in his beard.
Beat me to it. Was about to say almost the same thing.
I really used to love coming to SBI for breaking news and now it’s pretty much a soccer news aggregator site. It’s a real shame.
“Did I ever tell you about the time Bill Brasky gave colon cancer to Chuck Blazer for not delivering Christmas presents on time? BILL BRASKY!”
Well played.
You know, I once punched a hole in a cow just so I could see who was coming up the road.
Maybe SBI ain’t what it used to be, but this is a potentially huge story that folks who don’t read the Daily News might not have seen. I only found it because it was linked on the DC United fan news aggregating thread this morning. I have no clue what evidence Blazer was able to produce or secure for the feds. I’m kinda surprised they didn’t start the ball rolling much earlier, when it was smack in the middle of the WC bid process, but I guess no one really understood how brazen the corruption could get.
So, it will be fascinating to see what comes out of this. The US Attorney in Brooklyn has a case that could bring down FIFA and maybe even cause huge problems for governments in Russia and Qatar….depending on 1) the evidence they got, and 2) the willingness to go that far.
I don’t know what kind of Jurisdiction the FBI has with FIFA. It would depend on the cause of action, I suppose.
Some of it is original content like Yanks Rewind, College Soccer reviews, previews, etc. Granted there’s alot of stuff thats aggregated from other sites however, this isn’t the NYTimes with hundreds of full time writers travelling around digging up information.
Why is he not in prison
Don’t ruin my Christmas!
This would make one hell of a movie.
DONT TRUST FIFA!!! CORRUPT!!