9th July, 2015
FIFA’s independent ethics committee has banned former executive committee member and whistle blower Chuck Blazer from all football-related activity for life.
Blazer, 70, worked as an informant and undercover agent with prosecutors in the United States after pleading guilty to charges of bribery, money laundering and tax evasion.
A Fifa statement said Blazer “committed many and various acts of misconduct”.
In May, 14 Fifa officials were indicted on charges of racketeering, fraud and money laundering.
Read FIFA’s full statement below:
The adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, chaired by Hans-Joachim Eckert, has decided to ban the former FIFA Executive Committee member and CONCACAF General Secretary Chuck Blazer from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level for life.
The decision was taken on the basis of investigations carried out by the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee in response to the final report of the CONCACAF Integrity Committee and the latest facts presented by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Mr Blazer committed many and various acts of misconduct continuously and repeatedly during his time as an official in different high-ranking and influential positions at FIFA and CONCACAF. In his positions as a football official, he was a key player in schemes involving the offer, acceptance, payment and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, bribes and kickbacks as well as other money-making schemes. He was found guilty of violations of art. 13 (General rules of conduct), art. 15 (Loyalty), art. 16 (Confidentiality), art. 18 (Duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting), art. 19 (Conflicts of interest), art. 20 (Offering and accepting gifts and other benefits) and art. 21 (Bribery and corruption) of the FIFA Code of Ethics.
In May 2013, the Ethics Committee had decided to provisionally suspend the investigation proceedings in relation to former FIFA Executive Committee member Chuck Blazer until the end of 2013 at the earliest.
The body had taken the decision after receiving written confirmation that Blazer would not be engaging in any football-related activities until at least 31 December 2013, and after taking into consideration circumstances which made it advisable to provisionally suspend the investigations, especially for reasons of Blazer’s ill health.
When Dr Cornel Borbély took over the role of independent chairman of the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee in December 2014, he lifted this suspension and started new proceedings against Chuck Blazer, which have led to today’s announcement of the lifelong ban.
The ban is effective from 9 July 2015, the date on which the present decision was notified.