國際足聯爆腐敗窩案 已有14人被起訴

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.

美國執法官員週三措辭強硬地表示，其對國際足聯(FIFA)的廣泛調查纔剛剛開始，並承諾根除這個國際足球組織的系統性腐敗。

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.

美國司法部(Justice Department)、聯邦調查局(FBI)和國稅局(IRS)形容這家足球管理機構時的說法，通常只用於描述黑幫組織和販毒集團。執法官員稱，該機構的高層官員通過FIFA的商業決策，牟取個人財富。司法部長洛蕾塔·E·林奇(Loretta E. Lynch)稱，一名足聯官員受賄超過1000萬美元（約合6200萬元人民幣）。

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.

涉及欺騙的事件包括選中南非作爲2010年世界盃(World Cup)的主辦國、2011年的FIFA主席選舉，以及多項體育營銷協議。

“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.

“這些個人和組織通過賄賂來決定賽事的電視轉播權和主辦國，以及這個管理着全世界有組織足球運動的組織該由誰領導，”從初期便主管此次調查的林奇說。

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.

司法部的起訴書列出了14個人的名字，他們被控的罪名包括詐騙、電信欺詐和共謀洗錢。除高級足球官員外，起訴書中還出現了來自美國和南美的足球營銷高管。他們被控以行賄和提供回扣的手段出資逾1.5億美元，換取與重大足球賽事有關的媒體協議。

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.

受到指控的足球官員包括愛德華多·李(Eduardo Li)、傑弗裏·韋伯(Jeffrey Webb)、歐亨尼奧·菲格雷多(Eugenio Figueredo)、傑克·沃納(Jack Warner)、胡里奧·羅查(Julio Rocha)、科斯塔斯·塔卡斯(Costas Takkas)、拉斐爾·埃斯基韋爾(Rafael Esquivel)、若澤·馬利亞·馬林(José Maria Marin)和尼古拉斯·萊奧斯(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.”

官方宣稱繼續進行調查，這可能會導致更多人被捕，但官員們不願評論是否在對FIFA主席賽普‧布拉特(Sepp Blatter)開展調查。布拉特被廣泛認爲是體育界權力最大的人。一名聯邦執法官員表示，布拉特的命運“取決於今後調查的進展”。

“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.

“這是我們行動的開始，不是結束，”紐約東區代理聯邦檢察官凱利·T·柯里(Kelly T. Currie)說。實際上，這項指控涉及25名未提及姓名的同謀——從FIFA官員到南非世界盃申辦委員會的一名官員。柯里表示，“我們正在對很多國家的個人和機構開展調查。”柯里指出，調查活動還會涉及負責處理不明資金的金融機構，以便了解他們對這些詐騙行爲是否知情。

The government is pursuing a “very aggressive prosecutorial response in order to change behavior,” James B. Comey, director of the FBI, said.

FBI局長詹姆斯·B·科米(James B. Comey)說，政府尋求“通過起訴做出有力迴應，進而改變行爲模式”。

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.”

他們通過複雜的手法輸送其中一些款項。檢方寫道，在實施欺詐、賄賂及洗錢行爲後，被告會通過各種方式隱藏這些資金：利用虛假諮詢合同支付非法的酬勞；通過在銀行或外匯交易領域工作的夥伴轉賬；在避稅港建立空殼公司；隱瞞外國銀行賬號；使用保險櫃；“走私大量現金”。

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.

其中一些款項是通過傳統的賄賂方式支付的，比如南非爲申請2010年世界盃而支付的一筆錢。當時擔任FIFA執行委員會成員的沃納讓一名副手飛往巴黎，在一家酒店的房間裏接受了一個手提箱，其中放滿了一疊一疊的鈔票，每疊1萬美元。之後這名副手將這個手提箱轉交給在特立尼達拉島的沃納。

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.

後來，摩洛哥申辦委員會的一名成員給沃納提供了100萬美元，以換取他的投票。但此人落於下風：南非申辦委員會代表南非，籌措了1000萬美元的賄賂資金，以換取沃納和兩名受賄者的投票。起訴書中稱，這三人最終都投票支持了南非。

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.

有關2011年FIFA選舉的計劃也涉及沃納。腐敗案中的一名共犯聯繫到了沃納——起訴書中並未透露該人的名字，只是提到他是“FIFA和亞足聯(AFC)的高級官員”，當時正在競選FIFA主席。該人稱希望向足球官員宣佈自己的競選意願，請求沃納召集這些官員開會。他通過電匯向沃納支付了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，沃納召集加勒比海足球聯盟（Caribbean Football Union，簡稱CFU）的官員在特立尼達島的凱悅酒店(Hyatt Regency)開會，這名共犯向官員們發言說明了情況，然後沃納讓這些官員在一個會議室裏拿“禮物”，所謂禮物就是包在信封裏的4萬美元現金。

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，沃納召集CFU官員再次開會，因爲一名CFU官員將付錢的事告知了中北美和加勒比地區足聯(Concacaf)，沃納非常憤怒。“在座的某些人認爲，自己比其他人更虔誠，”他說。“既然你虔誠，就該去開個教堂啊，朋友們。我們的生意是我們的生意。”

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.

即使只是幫助行賄也是收穫頗豐：擁有兩家足球廣播公司的若澤·馬古利斯(José Margulies)幫忙在官員及尋求官員支持的人之間轉交錢財。他掩蓋付款操作、銷燬文件、讓足球官員使用並非自己名下的銀行賬號，並通過外匯交易員隱藏這些款項。顯然，這是一份肥差：2014年，他提出幫一家之前沒有合作過的體育營銷公司處理行賄業務。他的服務收費是：15萬美元的年費和每筆款項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.

週三凌晨，瑞士當局配合美國官員，在蘇黎世逮捕了幾名高層足球官員，並以聯邦腐敗指控爲由將他們引渡到美國。

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高層聚集在環境優雅且能看到阿爾卑斯山和蘇黎世湖的五星級酒店Baur au Lac召開年會時，十多名瑞士便衣執法人員也出其不意地抵達酒店。他們去前臺要到房間號後便上了樓。

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.

逮捕過程很平靜。FIFA官員愛德華多·李被當局從自己房間帶到了酒店的側門，並獲准帶上了印有FIFA標誌的行李箱。

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的一項調查爲依據做出的。其中稱，過去二十年裏，FIFA內部腐敗叢生，涉及世界盃的申辦，以及營銷和廣播協議。

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.”

在足球官員在酒店被捕幾小時後，瑞士當局表示在此之前已對2018年和2022年的世界盃申辦展開了刑事調查。世界盃的申辦過程比其他任何事情都更能體現FIFA不同尋常的權力格局。“在上述調查行動中，”瑞士官員說，“FIFA位於蘇黎世總部辦公室的電子數據和文件也於今天被扣押。”

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.

逮捕行動是對FIFA的意外一擊。這家資產數十億美元的機構管理着全世界最受歡迎的運動項目，但數十年來，該組織一直深受賄賂指控的困擾。

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.

此番調查也是對布拉特的巨大威脅。多年來，布拉特一直充當着該組織事實上的元首。長期以來，政客、球星、各國足球官員，以及全球各地想讓自己的品牌和這項運動掛鉤的企業，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.

似乎註定會讓布拉特第五次當選FIFA主席的選舉，定於週五舉行。FIFA發言人在新聞發佈會上堅稱，布拉特沒有參與任何所謂的不端行爲，並表示選舉將按計劃舉行。

“FIFA welcomes actions that can help contribute to rooting out any wrongdoing in football,” the organization said in a statement.

“對有助於根除足球領域任何不端行爲的舉動，FIFA都表示歡迎，”該組織在一則聲明中說。

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.

體育營銷高管亞歷杭德羅·布爾薩科(Alejandro Burzaco)、阿龍·戴維森(Aaron Davidson)、雨果·因基斯(Hugo Jinkis)和馬里亞諾·因基斯(Mariano Jinkis)也受到了指控。當局還指控馬古利斯充當中間人，爲非法付款提供便利。