The U.S. Department of Justice has taken on a tall order by attempting to eradicate the ills of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. In a mid-day press conference today, they outlined the full circumference of their inquiry, announcing they had indicted and arrested 16 more officials—the DOJ had previously indicted 9 FIFA officials in May, and several of those were also named on Thursday—from CONMEBOL and CONCACAF on corruption charges. A total of 27 officials were indicted. Among the new notable names were current CONCACAF president Alfredo Hawitt and current CONMEBOL president Juan Angel Napout. You can read the full indictment here.Jack Warner, Eduardo Li, and José Maria Marin were among those previously indicted in May who were also named in Thursday's 92-count indictment that was unsealed by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who said the defendants faced charges of racketeering conspiracy and "abuse of their positions to achieve financial gain."Lynch added that there might be more indictments in the future. She did not mince words about the DOJ's pursuit of perpetrators."The message from this announcement should be clear to every culpable individual who remains in the shadows, hoping to evade our investigation: you will not wait us out. You will not escape our focus."Eight defendants have already pleaded guilty, including the former CONCACAF president Webb, who acted as an informant in the latest rounds of investigations.When asked if these indictments were a byproduct of "sour grapes" as a result of the U.S. losing out on their 2022 World Cup bid—as currently suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter suggested—Lynch responded coolly:"I think [Blatter] is well aware of the nature of our charges. I think he has spent a great deal of time reading the 236 pages of the superseding indictment, which I think speaks for itself."
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