Chuck Blazer used senior positions in international soccer to participate in a corruption system that later triggered U.S. criminal investigations. He served as CONCACAF general secretary from 1990 to 2011 and on FIFA’s Executive Committee from 1996 to April 2013. A CONCACAF forensic audit found that Blazer and president Jack Warner operated without written contracts from 1998 until their departures, while Blazer received approximately $15 million in commissions. Investigators also uncovered more than a decade of unpaid taxes on hidden, multimillion-dollar income.
After the FBI and IRS investigation began, Blazer worked undercover from December 2011 and recorded meetings involving FIFA officials and executives connected to the 2012 Summer Olympics. In a sealed New York federal sentencing proceeding on November 25, 2013, later unsealed on June 3, 2015, he admitted conspiring with other FIFA Executive Committee members to accept bribes linked to the selection of Morocco for the 1998 World Cup and South Africa for the 2010 tournament. Blazer pleaded guilty to racketeering, wire fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering. His cooperation contributed to the May 27, 2015 arrests of FIFA officials; FIFA banned him for life on July 9, 2015. He died on July 12, 2017, before sentencing.
