There was a big raid on FIFA's Swiss offices this morning, resulting in the arrest of six officials on charges of racketeering, corruption and bribery.
Acting on an indictment by the U.S. Justice Department, Swiss police arrested six top FIFA officials, including its vice president, during an overnight raid Wednesday on charges of corruption.
In all, up to 14 FIFA officials are expected to be named in the indictment when it is unsealed in a federal court in New York later Wednesday.
The raids were conducted in Zurich, where members of soccer's scandal-plagued governing body were gathering for an election Friday that could give its leader Sepp Blatter a fifth term.
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Authorities didn't release the names of all the officials who were arrested. But one of them is Jeffrey Webb, FIFA's vice president and head of CONCACAF, the FIFA-affiliated governing body for North America and the Carribean, source told CNN.
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice said the suspects accepted bribes and kickbacks totaling more than $100 million, from the early 1990s until now.
In return, they provided media, marketing and sponsorship rights to soccer matches in Latin America, the Swiss Office of Justice said.
The charges are a result of a three-year FBI investigation and are to be announced by Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who oversaw the case in Brooklyn before her appointment to lead the Justice Dept in Washington, and James Comey, the FBI director.
The reason why the United States brought charges against the suspects is because the plots were allegedly hatched on American soil.
"According to U.S. request, these crimes were agreed and prepared in the U.S., and payments were carried out via U.S. banks," the Swiss Office of Justice said.
Swiss justice ministry spokesman Folco Galli told NBC News that the case is "related to tournaments in the United States and Latin America."
At least six suspects were detained at a luxury hotel in Zurich, Switzerland. They included representatives of sports media and sports promotion firms. They are alleged to have been involved in schemes to make payments to FIFA delegates and other functionaries of FIFA sub-organizations totaling more than $100 million, Swiss authorities said.
