United States law enforcement officials declared in forceful terms on Wednesday that their broad investigation of FIFA had only begun and pledged to rid the international soccer organization of systemic corruption.
美国执法官员周三措辞强硬地表示,其对国际足联(FIFA)的广泛调查才刚刚开始,并承诺根除这个国际足球组织的系统性腐败。
The Justice Department, F.B.I. and I.R.S. described soccer’s governing body in terms normally reserved for Mafia families and drug cartels, saying that top officials treated FIFA business decisions as chits to be traded for personal wealth. One soccer official took in more than $10 million in bribes, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said.
美国司法部(Justice Department)、联邦调查局(FBI)和国税局(IRS)形容这家足球管理机构时的说法,通常只用于描述黑帮组织和贩毒集团。执法官员称,该机构的高层官员通过FIFA的商业决策,牟取个人财富。司法部长洛蕾塔·E·林奇(Loretta E. Lynch)称,一名足联官员受贿超过1000万美元(约合6200万元人民币)。
The schemes involving the fraud included the selection of South Africa as the host of the 2010 World Cup; the 2011 FIFA presidential elections; and several sports-marketing deals.
涉及欺骗的事件包括选中南非作为2010年世界杯(World Cup)的主办国、2011年的FIFA主席选举,以及多项体育营销协议。
“These individuals and organizations engaged in bribery to decide who would televise games, where the games would be held, and who would run the organization overseeing organized soccer worldwide,” said Ms. Lynch, who supervised the investigation from its earliest stages.
“这些个人和组织通过贿赂来决定赛事的电视转播权和主办国,以及这个管理着全世界有组织足球运动的组织该由谁领导,”从初期便主管此次调查的林奇说。
The Department of Justice indictment names 14 people on charges including racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. In addition to senior soccer officials, the indictment also named sports-marketing executives from the United States and South America who are accused of paying more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for media deals associated with major soccer tournaments.
司法部的起诉书列出了14个人的名字,他们被控的罪名包括诈骗、电信欺诈和共谋洗钱。除高级足球官员外,起诉书中还出现了来自美国和南美的足球营销高管。他们被控以行贿和提供回扣的手段出资逾1.5亿美元,换取与重大足球赛事有关的媒体协议。
The soccer officials charged are Eduardo Li, Jeffrey Webb, Eugenio Figueredo, Jack Warner, Julio Rocha, Costas Takkas, Rafael Esquivel, José Maria Marin and Nicolás Leoz.
受到指控的足球官员包括爱德华多·李(Eduardo Li)、杰弗里·韦伯(Jeffrey Webb)、欧亨尼奥·菲格雷多(Eugenio Figueredo)、杰克·沃纳(Jack Warner)、胡里奥·罗查(Julio Rocha)、科斯塔斯·塔卡斯(Costas Takkas)、拉斐尔·埃斯基韦尔(Rafael Esquivel)、若泽·马利亚·马林(José Maria Marin)和尼古拉斯·莱奥斯(Nicolás Leoz)。
The promise that the investigation would continue raised the specter of more arrests, but officials would not comment on whether they were investigating Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president and the man widely regarded as the most powerful person in sports. One federal law enforcement official said Mr. Blatter’s fate would “depend on where the investigation goes from here.”
官方宣称继续进行调查,这可能会导致更多人被捕,但官员们不愿评论是否在对FIFA主席赛普‧布拉特(Sepp Blatter)开展调查。布拉特被广泛认为是体育界权力最大的人。一名联邦执法官员表示,布拉特的命运“取决于今后调查的进展”。
“This is the beginning of our effort, not the end,” said Kelly T. Currie, acting United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Indeed, the indictment refers to 25 unnamed co-conspirators, from FIFA officials to a South Africa World Cup bid committee official. “We are looking into individuals and entities in a variety of countries,” said Mr. Currie, who noted that the investigation would also look at financial institutions that handled the tainted money to see if they knew of the fraud.
“这是我们行动的开始,不是结束,”纽约东区代理联邦检察官凯利·T·柯里(Kelly T. Currie)说。实际上,这项指控涉及25名未提及姓名的同谋——从FIFA官员到南非世界杯申办委员会的一名官员。柯里表示,“我们正在对很多国家的个人和机构开展调查。”柯里指出,调查活动还会涉及负责处理不明资金的金融机构,以便了解他们对这些诈骗行为是否知情。
The government is pursuing a “very aggressive prosecutorial response in order to change behavior,” James B. Comey, director of the FBI, said.
FBI局长詹姆斯·B·科米(James B. Comey)说,政府寻求“通过起诉做出有力回应,进而改变行为模式”。
Some of the payments were funneled through intricate schemes. After committing fraud, bribery and money laundering, prosecutors wrote, defendants covered up those payments in various ways: using fake consulting contracts to funnel illegal payments; sending money through associates working in banking or currency dealing; creating shell companies in tax havens; hiding foreign bank accounts; using safe deposit boxes; and “bulk cash smuggling.”
他们通过复杂的手法输送其中一些款项。检方写道,在实施欺诈、贿赂及洗钱行为后,被告会通过各种方式隐藏这些资金:利用虚假咨询合同支付非法的酬劳;通过在银行或外汇交易领域工作的伙伴转账;在避税港建立空壳公司;隐瞒外国银行账号;使用保险柜;“走私大量现金”。
And some payments were old-fashioned bribes, like one involving South Africa’s bid for the 2010 World Cup. Mr. Warner, then a member of the FIFA executive committee, directed an associate to fly to Paris, accept a briefcase full of cash in $10,000 stacks from a South African bid committee member in a hotel room, and return the briefcase to Mr. Warner in Trinidad.
其中一些款项是通过传统的贿赂方式支付的,比如南非为申请2010年世界杯而支付的一笔钱。当时担任FIFA执行委员会成员的沃纳让一名副手飞往巴黎,在一家酒店的房间里接受了一个手提箱,其中放满了一叠一叠的钞票,每叠1万美元。之后这名副手将这个手提箱转交给在特立尼达拉岛的沃纳。
Later, a Moroccan bid committee member offered Mr. Warner $1 million in exchange for his vote, but that person was outmaneuvered: the South African bid committee had arranged a $10 million bribe in exchange for the votes of Mr. Warner and two co-conspirators on South Africa’s behalf. All three ultimately voted for South Africa, the indictment says.
后来,摩洛哥申办委员会的一名成员给沃纳提供了100万美元,以换取他的投票。但此人落于下风:南非申办委员会代表南非,筹措了1000万美元的贿赂资金,以换取沃纳和两名受贿者的投票。起诉书中称,这三人最终都投票支持了南非。
The plan involving the 2011 FIFA election also involved Mr. Warner. An unnamed co-conspirator, identified as “a high-ranking official at FIFA and AFC” who was running for FIFA president, reached out to Mr. Warner. The co-conspirator said he wanted to address soccer officials about his candidacy, and asked Mr. Warner to assemble those officials. The co-conspirator wired Mr. Warner $363,537.98.
有关2011年FIFA选举的计划也涉及沃纳。腐败案中的一名共犯联系到了沃纳——起诉书中并未透露该人的名字,只是提到他是“FIFA和亚足联(AFC)的高级官员”,当时正在竞选FIFA主席。该人称希望向足球官员宣布自己的竞选意愿,请求沃纳召集这些官员开会。他通过电汇向沃纳支付了363537.98美元。
At a May 2011 meeting that Mr. Warner called with Caribbean Football Union officials at the Hyatt Regency in Trinidad, the co-conspirator addressed the officials, then Mr. Warner told officials to pick up a “gift” in a certain conference room. The gift was $40,000 in cash, delivered in envelopes.
2011年5月,沃纳召集加勒比海足球联盟(Caribbean Football Union,简称CFU)的官员在特立尼达岛的凯悦酒店(Hyatt Regency)开会,这名共犯向官员们发言说明了情况,然后沃纳让这些官员在一个会议室里拿“礼物”,所谓礼物就是包在信封里的4万美元现金。
The next morning, Mr. Warner called the C.F.U. officials to another meeting, angered that one of the C.F.U. officials had alerted Concacaf to the payments. “There are some people here who think they are more pious than thou,” he said. “If you’re pious, open a church, friends. Our business is our business.”
第二天早晨,沃纳召集CFU官员再次开会,因为一名CFU官员将付钱的事告知了中北美和加勒比地区足联(Concacaf),沃纳非常愤怒。“在座的某些人认为,自己比其他人更虔诚,”他说。“既然你虔诚,就该去开个教堂啊,朋友们。我们的生意是我们的生意。”
Even facilitating the bribes was lucrative: José Margulies, who ran two soccer broadcasting companies, helped funnel money between officials and those seeking officials’ favor. He covered up his payments, shredding papers, telling soccer officials to use accounts that were not in their own name, and using currency dealers to hide the payments. His was apparently a lucrative job: in 2014, he offered to handle a bribe for a sports-marketing company he had not worked with before. His charge for his services: $150,000 annual fee and a 2 percent commission per payment.
即使只是帮助行贿也是收获颇丰:拥有两家足球广播公司的若泽·马古利斯(José Margulies)帮忙在官员及寻求官员支持的人之间转交钱财。他掩盖付款操作、销毁文件、让足球官员使用并非自己名下的银行账号,并通过外汇交易员隐藏这些款项。显然,这是一份肥差:2014年,他提出帮一家之前没有合作过的体育营销公司处理行贿业务。他的服务收费是:15万美元的年费和每笔款项2%的佣金。
Swiss authorities, working in conjunction with United States officials, conducted an extraordinary early-morning operation in Zurich on Wednesday to arrest several top soccer officials and extradite them to the United States on federal corruption charges.
周三凌晨,瑞士当局配合美国官员,在苏黎世逮捕了几名高层足球官员,并以联邦腐败指控为由将他们引渡到美国。
As leaders of FIFA gathered for their annual meeting, more than a dozen plainclothes Swiss law enforcement officials arrived unannounced at the Baur au Lac hotel, an elegant five-star property with views of the Alps and Lake Zurich. They went to the front desk to get room numbers and then proceeded upstairs.
FIFA高层聚集在环境优雅且能看到阿尔卑斯山和苏黎世湖的五星级酒店Baur au Lac召开年会时,十多名瑞士便衣执法人员也出其不意地抵达酒店。他们去前台要到房间号后便上了楼。
The arrests were carried out peacefully. One FIFA official, Mr. Li, was led by the authorities from his room to a side-door exit of the hotel. He was allowed to bring his luggage, which was adorned with FIFA logos.
逮捕过程很平静。FIFA官员爱德华多·李被当局从自己房间带到了酒店的侧门,并获准带上了印有FIFA标志的行李箱。
The charges, backed by an F.B.I. investigation, allege widespread corruption in FIFA over the past two decades, involving bids for World Cups as well as marketing and broadcast deals.
指控是以FBI的一项调查为依据做出的。其中称,过去二十年里,FIFA内部腐败丛生,涉及世界杯的申办,以及营销和广播协议。
Several hours after the soccer officials were apprehended at the hotel, Swiss authorities said that they had opened criminal cases related to the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups — incidents that, more than any others, encapsulated FIFA’s unusual power dynamic. “In the course of said proceedings,” the Swiss officials said, “electronic data and documents were seized today at FIFA’s head office in Zurich.”
在足球官员在酒店被捕几小时后,瑞士当局表示在此之前已对2018年和2022年的世界杯申办展开了刑事调查。世界杯的申办过程比其他任何事情都更能体现FIFA不同寻常的权力格局。“在上述调查行动中,”瑞士官员说,“FIFA位于苏黎世总部办公室的电子数据和文件也于今天被扣押。”
The arrests were a startling blow to FIFA, a multibillion-dollar organization that governs the world’s most popular sport but has been plagued by accusations of bribery for decades.
逮捕行动是对FIFA的意外一击。这家资产数十亿美元的机构管理着全世界最受欢迎的运动项目,但数十年来,该组织一直深受贿赂指控的困扰。
The inquiry is also a major threat to Mr. Blatter, who has for years acted as a de facto head of state. Politicians, star players, national soccer officials and global corporations that want their brands attached to the sport have long genuflected before him.
此番调查也是对布拉特的巨大威胁。多年来,布拉特一直充当着该组织事实上的元首。长期以来,政客、球星、各国足球官员,以及全球各地想让自己的品牌和这项运动挂钩的企业,在他面前都要卑躬屈膝。
An election, seemingly preordained to give Mr. Blatter a fifth term as president, is scheduled for Friday. A FIFA spokesman insisted at the news conference that Mr. Blatter was not involved in any alleged wrongdoing and that the election would go ahead as planned.
似乎注定会让布拉特第五次当选FIFA主席的选举,定于周五举行。FIFA发言人在新闻发布会上坚称,布拉特没有参与任何所谓的不端行为,并表示选举将按计划举行。
“FIFA welcomes actions that can help contribute to rooting out any wrongdoing in football,” the organization said in a statement.
“对有助于根除足球领域任何不端行为的举动,FIFA都表示欢迎,”该组织在一则声明中说。
Charges were also made against the sports-marketing executives Alejandro Burzaco, Aaron Davidson, Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis. Authorities also charged Margulies as an intermediary who facilitated illegal payments.
体育营销高管亚历杭德罗·布尔萨科(Alejandro Burzaco)、阿龙·戴维森(Aaron Davidson)、雨果·因基斯(Hugo Jinkis)和马里亚诺·因基斯(Mariano Jinkis)也受到了指控。当局还指控马古利斯充当中间人,为非法付款提供便利。