News that FIFA president Sepp ‘despot’ Blatter and Jerome ‘not me’ Valcke have lawyered up in the US with a couple of the most aggressive rottweilers available comes as no real surprise. Or does it? And does the fact that this is actually news tell us a bit more than perhaps the news leaker had intended.
FIFA confirmed to Reuters that they had retained lawyers. One of the Reuters articles stated that Blatter had retained Richard Cullen, the chairman of the law firm McGuireWoods and a former US federal prosecutor. The Reuters report says: “Cullen has long ties to FBI Director James Comey, whose bureau is conducting much of the FIFA-related investigation. Comey served as a federal prosecutor in Richmond, Virginia, where Cullen is based, and worked as a partner at McGuireWoods. Cullen spoke positively of Comey’s nomination for FBI director in 2013.” So everything is being kept within the gang then, for the enrichment of the gang? Now there’s a legal racket for you.
Valcke, has hired prominent New York defense attorney Barry Berke. Not much seems to be known about him apart from being “prominent”, but it is unlikely he is the berk his name suggests.
Lawyers generally don’t press release their new client engagements, so where does this information come from. Presumably from some well-placed individuals within the US Department of Justice who have been told to get this ‘message’ out.
The message presumably being that by virtue of the fact that they have lawyered up they are clearly guilty. A trial in the court of public opinion and the media is much easier to win than one that requires hard evidence.
So is the actual meaning of this latest leak (sub-consciously or otherwise) that we infact are seeing an admission from the DoJ that when it comes Blatter and Valcke there isn’t enough to send them to the deepest dungeon known to man, nor to strip Russia or Qatar of their ill-gotten or otherwise World Cup gains. Is it one last fishing expedition to flush out something really juicy.
Because, when you look at the detail that the DoJ has, to dress it up as a good old-fashioned mafia-style racketeering operation (they call him RICO, as the song almost went) rapidly becomes a bit thin. Kickbacks for marketing contracts is clear – you have those boys banged to rights with bank transfers to named accounts and more squealers than should humanely be kept in a single sty. But the new agenda of the investigation into 2018 and 2022 (only recently announced by the DoJ but always an underlying objective – quelle surprise in the official language of FIFA) doesn’t have the same resonance.
The bribes are unclear and not even the star witness – Chuck Blazer – is 100% clear on cash for World Cup votes. He was only one vote in any case. An American, just to remind people of nationality. Words like “I think was intended as a bribe” are for thinkers to ponder, not courts to convict.
And with Blazer comes another problem, that of him not likely being around for any trial. He is reportedly close to end stage cancer and being fed through a tube into his stomach with a mask for air. Not in a condition for the right of cross-examination by defense counsel.
So could this be why the focus is on drawing out Jack Warner – potentially the next weakest link? Certainly a very naughty chap, and one who says he has stories to tell. But he hasn’t told any yet.
Blatter and Valcke’s legal representation may just be a case of being well prepared for the storm.
Or is there a negotiation taking place – it seems the US Justice system is in fact primarily one of negotiation. And is it a negotiation that the individuals are undertaking for themselves or is it a FIFA negotiation? Something along the lines of; what will it take to leave us, FIFA and football alone? It doesn’t seem an unreasonable conversation to have.
A negotiation that at first seemed to be going in the right direction for ‘FIFA’? So much so that a “source close to” Blatter tested the waters with a “might stay on message”?
That would be another u-turn that would keep the world spinning in circles.
Paul Nicholson is editor of Insideworldfootball. Contact him at moc.l1734859152labto1734859152ofdlr1734859152owedi1734859152sni@n1734859152osloh1734859152cin.l1734859152uap1734859152