FIFA seeks to rebound as ex-honchos are cited in $80M pay flap

Recently released information reveals more trouble for the ousted Fédération Internationale de Football Association president and two cohorts. His successor might be in hot water, too.

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A year after longtime FIFA president Joseph “Sepp” Blatter stepped down in the face of alleged corruption (and severe scrutiny), investigators today revealed why—and are implicating two other former FIFA officials in the matter.

Attorneys announced that Blatter, former secretary general Jerome Valcke and former deputy secretary general Markus Kattner had awarded themselves pay raises and bonuses totaling $80 million.

“The evidence appears to reveal a coordinated effort by three former top officials of FIFA to enrich themselves through annual salary increases, World Cup bonuses and other incentives totaling more than 79 million Swiss francs — in just the last five years,” Bill Burck of Quinn Emanuel, the U.S. law firm retained by FIFA during its corruption crisis, told the Associated Press.

More from the AP:

Some of the contracted payments appear to break Swiss law, and evidence will be given to American and Swiss federal prosecutors who are investigating corruption implicating the world soccer body, lawyers for FIFA said Friday.

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