WEBVTT - The Inside Man 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:05.760 I want you to picture something. Imagine a child somewhere 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:09.520 anywhere in the world playing soccer. What do you see? 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:14.560 A girl running drills on a grass soccer pitch, a 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:17.600 boy and his friend kicking a ball around an alleyway, 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:22.439 or having a game on a dirty, dusty lot. What 0:00:22.480 --> 0:00:26.560 you probably didn't imagine are men in suits handing out 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:30.360 bribes in the form of envelopes full of cash. And 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:34.760 why would you That has nothing to do with the game, right, 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:40.920 But it does, And that's what this story is all about. 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:45.880 The story of soccer, or football, as most of the 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:50.000 world knows it is one of contradictions. There is the 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:54.400 pure joy of the game, the beautiful game, the ballet 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:58.120 of the masses that has made soccer a truly global 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:03.040 sport with billions of fans. And then there are those men, 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:06.200 and they were all men. They're the ones behind the 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:11.680 World Cup, soccer's ultimate contest. They are the lords of soccer, 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:15.039 and they've pocketed millions of dollars while failing to live 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:18.400 up to the basic standards of the game itself. This 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:21.880 is the story of how their agreed finally caught up 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:26.000 with him. Yeah, it's it's ultimate game. Is doing a 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:29.280 really excellent job. Playing fair may have cost Australia a 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.440 chance to host the World Cup. Crisis of corruption on 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.959 full display for the world. The game was hijack. Keith's 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:39.600 alleged tradition of bribery is taking a real human toll. 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:46.399 I'm very proud of our accomplishments. I'm Connor Powell. This 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:56.400 is episode one The Inside Man. It's a brisk November 0:01:56.480 --> 0:02:00.760 evening in the year two thousand and eleven. An electric 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:04.840 scooter rolls slowly across the pink and rose colored marble 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:09.000 lobby of the fifty eight story Trump Tower in downtown Manhattan. 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:13.440 The man on the scooter is Chuck Blazer. He's a 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:18.079 rare American on FIFA's Executive Committee for nearly twenty years. 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:21.119 He's traveled the world by private jet, stayed in five 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:24.919 star hotels, and rubbed elbows with a host of celebrities, 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:31.280 sports stars, and world leaders. On this crisp Autumn night, Blazer, 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:34.000 with a head of hair and beard as bushy and 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:38.320 white as Santa Clauss, is making his way to Uncle Jack's, 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:42.200 a posh New York steakhouse on the West Side. He's 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.600 joined by friends, including the woman he's dating the former 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:51.000 soap opera actress Marylynn Blanks. Because of his weight, which 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:54.520 has balloon to more than four hundred pounds, he relies 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:59.280 on a mobility scooter for assistants. Like many FIFA executives, 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:03.119 Blazers now in restaurants around the world for spending thousands 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:06.560 of dollars on food, alcohol, and pretty much whatever the 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:10.080 hell he wanted. In New York, Blazer was known as 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:12.680 much for his love of strip clubs as he was 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:16.560 for his love of Max, his blue and gold pet parrot. 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.960 Max was regularly seen around town sitting on Blazer's shoulder. 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:26.560 On this fateful night, Max the parrot was left upstairs 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:33.600 in one of Blazers too yes to luxury Trump Tower apartments. Combined, 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:37.800 they cost nearly two thousand dollars a month. One of 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:41.280 the apartments was just for his cats, who apparently paid 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:44.520 a lot, and so we're rewarded with a residence of 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:48.600 their own. You might be wondering, like I did, how 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:54.400 this morbidly obese, clearly eccentric American sports marketing executive from Queens, 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:59.440 New York ended up on soccer's international governing council. You 0:03:59.520 --> 0:04:03.080 might also asked, how can he afford such luxuries like 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:08.320 two penthouse apartments in downtown Manhattan. The federal agents, one 0:04:08.520 --> 0:04:10.920 from the Internal Revenue Service and the other from the 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:15.320 Federal Bureau of Investigation, have been wondering the same thing. 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:19.080 They were waiting for Blazer in the atrium of Trump 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:23.160 Tower that very night. Looking every bit the part of 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:28.080 Gemen and their conservative business suits, they approached the surprise 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:31.200 Blazer as he and his friends were leaving the building 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:35.279 through its obnoxious gold awning entrance on East fifty six Street. 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.880 Steve Berryman of the i r S and Jared Randall 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:43.440 of the FBI introduced themselves. They told Blazer they were 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:49.679 investigating corruption in international soccer and especially at FIFA. Blazer froze, 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:55.560 his face turned white. They informed them the I r 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.000 S couldn't find any records of him paying US taxes 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:05.360 for years now. Meeting outside of the glitsee Trump Tower 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:09.719 would have been an awkward place to cry poverty, and anyways, 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:12.920 Blazer was too proud of his extravagant life that he 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:17.880 had built to pretend it didn't exist. Blazer always knew 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:22.279 this day might come. He was always really fundamentally insecure. 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:26.720 That's Mary Pappenfuss. She co wrote the book about Blazer 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:30.640 called American Huckster. How Chuck Blazer got rich from and 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:35.200 sold out the most powerful cabal in world sports. And 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.200 he told mary Lynn that he was afraid people are 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:40.799 going to finally find out who he was. And she said, 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.040 who's that? And he said, just a fat crook from Queens. 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:46.680 And I think that was his self image. He was 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.320 a fat crook from Queens. He's gonna grab whatever he 0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:51.880 could when he could just gonna, you know, go to 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:55.960 the wall and maybe die before anyone caught him. Berryman 0:05:56.040 --> 0:06:00.279 handed Blazer a white legal document. The subpoena ordered him 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.640 to turn over all of his financial records. Blazer was 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:07.080 facing at least thirty years in jail just for tax 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:11.719 evasion and more many more. If the rumors of fraud, 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:17.039 money laundering, racketeering that swirled around his time at FIFA 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:22.520 we're true. That's why the FBI was there. But Randall 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:28.240 and the FBI worn't after just Blazer. They had much 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:32.760 bigger designs. So they made him an offer he couldn't refuse. 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:36.320 It was maybe a thirty forty minute meeting and they said, 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:39.360 we can arrest you right now or you can wear 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:42.560 a wire, And he said, I'll wear a wire. In 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:47.120 a heartbeat, FIFA's extraordinary greed was about to catch up 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:50.279 with them. Blazer was just a vulnerable link in a 0:06:50.320 --> 0:06:54.680 corrupt chain, a pressure point the FBI and I r 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:57.800 s could use to expose the wider fraud they had 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:02.440 suspected for years. For decades, the rules of the game 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:07.080 had been rigged by FIFA. For FIFA, maybe it was inevitable, 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:11.000 given the organization's history of playing footsie with murderous dictators 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:14.760 and shady oligarchs. So let me take you back to 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:17.440 the beginning of two thousand and eleven when it all 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:22.120 really began to unravel for Blazer and ultimately for FIFA itself. 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:27.320 It started when Blazer's longtime soccer partner, Jack Warner, was 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:30.400 caught with envelopes full of cash trying to buy FIFA's 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.280 presidential election. But before we go too deep into our story, 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:38.400 let me first explain what FIFA is besides the letters 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:43.880 you see printed on official soccer balls. The Federation International 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:49.840 Day Football Association was founded in in Paris. It runs 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:53.720 international soccer, the World Cup, the Women's World Cup, and 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:58.000 a host of other smaller tournaments. Collectively, these games are 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:02.760 watched by more than four billion people. That's more than 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:07.520 half the planet. No surprise, then, that FIFA pulls in 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:12.360 billions of dollars each year, and by these measures it's 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:16.440 been a great success. FIFA is also an epic failure, 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:21.400 a testament to greed. There's long been talk of widespread corruption, 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:25.640 a rot at the highest levels of the organization. In 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:29.800 two thousand and fifteen, two other organizations with acronyms you 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:34.120 already know, the FBI and the i r S, arrested 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.760 more than a dozen former in current FIFA members on 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:43.640 charges of bribery, fraud, and money laundry. These arrests, many 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.080 of which can be traced back to that chilly fall 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:50.000 meeting with Blazer, rip back the curtain of institutional rot 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:54.840 and dirty dealings of an organization operating completely out of bounds. 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:13.360 Even over the noise of the TV, Marylynn Blanks could 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.960 hear the anger and her boyfriend, Chuck Blazer's voice as 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:20.080 he talked on the phone with a soccer official from 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:24.840 the Bahamas. Blazer's TV was always on and always loud. 0:09:25.800 --> 0:09:29.000 It was a lot like Blazer himself, so when he 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:33.000 threw his phone across the penthouse bedroom. Blanks knew whatever 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:38.600 was wrong must be bad, and it was. You see, 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.400 before he agreed to be a snitch for the US government, 0:09:43.120 --> 0:09:48.400 Blazer was a reluctant whistleblower. I mean, don't get me wrong. 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:51.920 You wouldn't confuse him with some do good or anti 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:55.800 corruption advocate. Blazer was just a crooked stuck in a 0:09:55.840 --> 0:10:00.000 tug of war between two other crooks. And to understand 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:03.720 on how all of this fits together and why Blazer 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.719 threw his phone across his bedroom, you need to hear 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:09.880 about an email Blazer received a couple of weeks before 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:14.520 from his longtime boss, Jack Warner, a FIFA Vice president 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:18.200 and the head of conker CALF, the Confederation of North 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:24.080 Central America and Caribbean Association Football, one of FIFA's six 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:28.880 regional confederations. Blazer and Warner had been partners and allies 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:31.920 in world soccer since Warner was first elected the head 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:37.040 of Conker CALF. They had built a successful, lucrative relationship 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:42.560 despite being polar opposites. They seem like Mutton Jeff, really 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:47.040 very very different from completely different worlds, but for some 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:52.640 reason they hit it off. Blazer was this physically imposing, gregarious, 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:57.040 Jewish marketing executive from Queens. He made his living traveling 0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:01.040 from sales convention to sales convention, selling you know, pretty 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:05.200 much anything he could. He was also a suburban soccer dad, 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:09.440 and that's when he spotted a trend that changed the 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.960 course of his life. Says Mary papin Puss. He knew 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:16.560 nothing about soccer, but what he did notice was that 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:19.280 all of these kids were playing soccer, and all of 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:22.199 these parents were into soccer, and he thought, this is 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:26.560 the future of sports. Through a combination of charisma and 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:30.360 force of will, he rose through the ranks of international soccer. 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:35.640 Along the way, he forged new and very profitable sponsorships 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.720 and TV marketing deals in the US and around the world. 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:44.240 Warner was every bit the soccer fanatic that Blazer wasn't. 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:49.160 He was also wired, thin, brash, a black man raised 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:52.480 Catholic who taught history on the tiny island nation of 0:11:52.520 --> 0:11:56.200 Trinidad and Tobago. He was known most for making things 0:11:56.280 --> 0:12:01.199 happen for himself and his friends. He's journalist Grant Wall, 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:04.160 who has covered international soccer for more than twenty years, 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:09.520 describing Warner, he was always a pretty clever, kg guy, 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.120 for Jack Warner, it was always about getting the best 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:17.559 deal for himself. Two took over the poor and historically 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:21.600 weak soccer federation Conker Calf. Together they built it into 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:26.080 a massive soccer marketing empire. In the late eighties, he 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:29.400 teamed up with Jack Warner, who was the president of 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:34.400 the Trendad and Tobago Federation, a guy who understood politics, 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:39.000 and they decided that Jack Warner would run for president 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:43.200 of Conkacalf, Chuck Blazer would run as general secretary, and 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:47.040 that they would get all the votes in the Caribbean 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:51.120 because Jack Warner was involved. They worked together for a 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:56.400 really long time, with Warner's president and Blazer's general secretary. 0:12:56.559 --> 0:13:01.120 The money started rolling in. With this ring of sponsorships 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:05.040 and TV agreements. The duo turned the once backwater soccer 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:10.600 association into a revenue generating powerhouse for FIFA. These guys 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:16.880 were getting rich. Here's Blazer bragging about his accomplishments. Is 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:20.280 doing a really excellent job of promoting football around the world. 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:22.520 If I look back ten years, twenty years and see 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:25.240 the progress we made, I'm very proud of our accomplishments. 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.439 In the shady world of FIFA. The pair with sticky 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:34.120 fingers fit right in. Blazer became known as Mr ten 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:37.440 percent because of a contract that entitled him to a 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:42.600 ten percent commission on all of Conky Caps marketing deals 0:13:43.240 --> 0:13:46.520 and Warner. He had long been suspected of fixing matches, 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:50.480 selling World Cup tickets on the black market, and even worse, 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:55.400 seeking gifts in return for supporting World Cup bids. Their 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:59.559 partnership made them fabulously wealthy, propelling them up the ranks 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:03.760 of interne national soccers ruling elite, and landed them spots 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:08.280 on FIFA's all powerful Executive Committee. It also earned them 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:12.160 the trust of President set Bladder, who led FIFA from 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:18.000 until two thousand and fifteen. By trust, I mean no 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:22.120 one got on FIFA's executive committee without bladders full support. 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:26.280 The ultimate sporting power broker, the most powerful man in 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:29.880 world football, Bladder, he's the mayor of World Soccer. FIFA 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:32.160 is his baby. He's treated as a head of state, 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:34.320 and he flies in private planes, and he's given great 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:38.640 difference around the world. Part politician and it seems to 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:43.160 me part mafia boss. Bladder ruled international soccer with an 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:47.520 iron fist, just like in the mafia. If you earn 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:53.040 for the family. The family provides for you. Warner and 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:58.400 Blazer owed their wealth and status to the empire. Bladder ruled. 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:03.760 So back to that email Warner's sent to Blazer on 0:15:03.920 --> 0:15:07.400 April first, two thousand and eleven, Warner was about to 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:11.400 risk all of their success and possibly fortunes on a 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:18.040 foolish scheme. When the email first arrived, Blazer was furious 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:22.160 he couldn't believe what he was reading. Warner wrote in 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.360 the email that he had decided to support set Bladder's 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:29.240 challenger in the upcoming two thousand and eleven FIFA presidential election. 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:34.720 Jack Warner was backing Mohammad been Hammam, a long time 0:15:34.800 --> 0:15:39.160 FIFA official and president of the Asian Soccer Federation. The 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.800 battle for the presidency has been likened to a civil 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.560 war within the organization. The then sixty two year old 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:49.200 from the oil rich nation of Qatar stood little chance 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:52.680 of unseating Bladder on his own, but Qatar had already 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:56.640 shocked the sports world once before. Do we know to 0:15:56.920 --> 0:16:03.120 organize the two twenty to FIFA vote? Cup is Ka 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:08.240 That's right, just a few months before, in December of 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:11.600 two thousand and ten, the small desert nation of just 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:14.160 over a million and a half people was awarded the 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:19.240 World Cup. It lacked modern FIFA style stadiums and had 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:24.320 no soccer pedigree whatsoever. What Qatar did have was money, 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:28.120 lots of oil and gas money and a desire to 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:31.920 be a player on the world stage, and so too 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:36.360 did Mohammed ben Hamm, who orchestrated Qatar's World Cup winning 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:42.680 bid over countries like Australia, Japan, and the United States. Still, 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:48.000 Jack Warner's plan to back ben Hamm seemed needlessly reckless 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:52.080 the Blazer. As part of his scheme, Warner had invited 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:55.240 bin Hamm to Trinidad and Tobago's capital, port of Spain, 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:58.320 to meet with about twenty five of the Caribbean's most 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:03.720 important soccer bosses who would vote in the upcoming FIFA election. Together, 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.399 they could swing the vote against Bladder and in favor 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:12.560 of ben Hamm. In the shadowy back rooms of FIFA dealmaking. 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:17.119 That meant money, lots of money in the pockets of 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:21.800 soccer officials who would choose the next FIFA president. After 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:25.960 reading the email, a panic Blazer immediately fired off a 0:17:26.080 --> 0:17:30.560 sarcastic response to Warner. Journalist Mary pap and Fuss saw 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:34.240 the email. I think this first line was I hope 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:38.399 this is an April Fool's joke, but actually was April 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:42.560 Fool's Day. The Warner's plan was anything but a joke. 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:47.280 Chuck heard about it and he was just panicky, and 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:50.399 he told him, we can do this more discreetly, in 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:56.240 a better way. He said, please, don't do this. Weeks later, 0:17:56.920 --> 0:18:00.359 when Jack Warner in the Caribbean Soccer Bosses met in 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:04.480 Port of Spain, he barreled ahead with his plan. Warner's 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:08.720 lack of discretion was on full display when he told 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:12.639 out one million dollars on behalf of ben Hamm and 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:17.640 small brown paper envelopes. And that's what Blazer had learned 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:20.439 in the call that made him so angry that he 0:18:20.480 --> 0:18:24.680 threw his phone across the room. They passed out forty 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:29.160 thousand dollar bribes in cash to twenty five members of 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:34.159 the Caribbean Football Union. One of the officials from the Bahamas, 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:37.359 who was in the room with Warner, had called Blazer 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:40.680 to tell them about the bribes. What no one knew 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:44.359 at the time but we know now was part of 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.800 the two day meeting in Port of Spain was filmed. 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:52.000 The audio it isn't great, But if you could see 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:56.199 the grainy video, you'd see a nondescriptive conference room in 0:18:56.240 --> 0:19:00.800 Trinidad's High Regency Hotel with about two dozen and Caribbean 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:05.400 soccer officials sitting behind long rows of tables, each one 0:19:05.480 --> 0:19:08.600 with a small bottle of water and a clear drinking 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:12.280 glass at their side. We do have the audio. You 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:16.159 can hear Jack Warner on tape brazenly urging his fellow 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:20.560 Caribbean soccer officials to accept the quote gift for Mohammed 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:28.359 bin Hammams. You want to use it. And if you 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:32.240 ever wondered what it might sound like if ethics and 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:36.280 integrity were blatantly mocked in the act of bribery, well 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:41.720 Warner happily provided a script telling anyone who considered returning 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:45.920 the money because of ethical concerns to go open to church. 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:50.080 I know that us get some people here who believe 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:56.320 the modo. If you churchmen, if you're pious, open to 0:19:56.440 --> 0:20:00.800 church friends. No one would accuse Blazer of being pious, 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:04.560 And yet he was beside himself after hearing about the 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:09.280 bribes and the envelope stuffed with cash. His longtime partner 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:13.960 in crime had crossed soccer's godfather, the most powerful man 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:19.240 in world sport, Sep Bladder, Chuck Blazer, and Jack Warner 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:22.960 were now on opposite sides of the battle for control 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:28.600 of FIFA. Here again, Mary pappenfuss I think if it 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:32.000 had been done more discreetly, with more sophistication, and Sep 0:20:32.200 --> 0:20:35.840 Ladder would have been lost. The position Chuck wouldn't have cared. 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:38.840 It was just it couldn't have been contained because there 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:41.880 were whistleblowers calling people up. So he knew he had 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:45.040 to come out fast on the right side. That was, 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:48.800 you know, the red line. Chuck had to turn Jack 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:54.360 in or go down in flames with him. Anxious, angry, afraid, 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:58.120 Blazer knew he had no choice but to report Warner 0:20:58.320 --> 0:21:02.879 to FIFA's leadership. Still, he hesitated for a few days, 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:07.359 knowing full well that his longtime friend could be vindictive 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:12.720 and that Warner knew all of Blazer's personal secrets, secrets 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:16.680 that could in Blazer's FIFA career or even worse, Landaman prisons. 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:22.000 A frantic Blazer made a call to FIFA's Secretary General 0:21:22.119 --> 0:21:25.160 Jerome Valk, the one man many thought could be taught 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:29.479 football chiefs set Blatter withdraws. Mohammed bin Hammam of Kata 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:32.520 says he won't stand for FIFA president. It's a last 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:35.439 minute decision taken just before he was due to answer 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:40.360 claims of corruption, and soccer's ruling bosses immediately opened an 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:46.000 ethics investigation. The FIFA scandal rumbles on. Within days, Warner 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:51.320 and bin Hammam were out banned from the sport. Football's 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:54.440 governing body is trying to tackle its shading inner workings 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:59.160 by suspending two executives on corruption charges. Bladder would easily 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:03.399 be reelected for a fourth term as FIFA's president, and 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:06.520 then he casually brushed aside the entire scandal that was 0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:12.119 steering his sport right in the face. Here's set Bladder crisis. 0:22:13.200 --> 0:22:17.560 What is a crisis? If somebody, if you would describe 0:22:17.640 --> 0:22:20.359 to me what there is a crisis, then I would 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:25.119 answer football is not in the crisis. Blazer was hailed 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.359 as a hero and went before the camera as the 0:22:28.480 --> 0:22:33.200 clean face of an organization long suspected of corruption. Um, 0:22:33.440 --> 0:22:36.000 what can be tons playing up? Pay for what I did? 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:38.360 And I just to turn around and do it, expose 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:42.800 it where it exists. The journalist grand Wall notes the irony. 0:22:43.560 --> 0:22:46.440 For a while, it was hilarious check Blazer was being 0:22:46.480 --> 0:22:50.800 called a whistleblower when Chuck Blazer had been just as 0:22:50.840 --> 0:23:04.720 corrupt as Jack Warner hands in hand for decades. From 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:09.119 the outside the chet holy Field Federal Building in Orange County, California, 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:12.480 I couldn't look more out of place. With its steep 0:23:12.720 --> 0:23:17.359 triangular walls, it looks more like an ancient Mesopotamian temple 0:23:17.760 --> 0:23:22.280 than the US government building. Inside, however, with its endless 0:23:22.480 --> 0:23:27.520 bright fluorescent lights, white tile floors, and rows of cubicles, 0:23:28.040 --> 0:23:31.760 it looks and feels like what it is. The regional 0:23:31.800 --> 0:23:36.080 offices of the Internal Revenue Service in August of two 0:23:36.080 --> 0:23:39.560 thousand and eleven, just a few months after Warner tried 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:43.840 to bribe those Caribbean soccer officials, Assistant Special Agent in 0:23:43.960 --> 0:23:47.000 charge Amy shaw Billion was at her desk when she 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:50.480 was forwarded a news article from one of her senior agents, 0:23:50.520 --> 0:23:54.879 Steve Berryman. You'll remember Berryman as one of the two 0:23:55.080 --> 0:23:59.320 federal agents who stopped Blazer outside of Trump Tower on 0:23:59.400 --> 0:24:03.880 that Chris November night in two thousand and eleven. Berriman 0:24:04.000 --> 0:24:07.000 rushed into Chabillion's office to show her a news article 0:24:07.560 --> 0:24:13.760 with the headline FBI examines US soccer bosses financial records. 0:24:14.640 --> 0:24:19.679 The British investigative journals Andrew Jennings detailed five hundred thousand 0:24:19.680 --> 0:24:24.679 dollars worth of suspicious payments made to Blazer from dodgy 0:24:24.720 --> 0:24:29.679 Caribbean soccer officials. The British public were irate with FIFA 0:24:29.920 --> 0:24:32.639 after losing out on the two thousand and eighteen World 0:24:32.720 --> 0:24:37.440 Cup to Russia. Britain's press were sniffing around for stories 0:24:37.480 --> 0:24:42.560 about FIFA corruption, confident that Russia and Qatar bribed FIFA 0:24:42.640 --> 0:24:47.120 officials to win their World Cup bids. At the time, 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:51.960 Blazer was still flying high as the whistleblower on FIFA corruption. 0:24:53.040 --> 0:24:58.399 Is faith for inherently corrupt. I think individuals are for 0:24:58.400 --> 0:25:02.080 a long time followers of global sport, like Andrew Jennings, 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:06.840 Blazer's act was an ironic twist of events. Jennings had 0:25:06.840 --> 0:25:09.879 spent the better part of the previous two decades chronicling 0:25:09.920 --> 0:25:13.440 FIFA's shady inner workings, and had written several books about 0:25:13.480 --> 0:25:19.960 FIFA's corruption. Jennings knew Blazer's hands were dirty. When questioned 0:25:19.960 --> 0:25:24.119 by Jennings and other journalists, Blazer didn't deny receiving the 0:25:24.160 --> 0:25:28.840 offshore payments, he insisted, though all the transactions were done legally. 0:25:29.720 --> 0:25:33.560 Jennings new Blazer's explanation of the payments didn't add up. 0:25:34.760 --> 0:25:39.040 Blazers carefully constructed house of cards was beginning to collapse, 0:25:39.800 --> 0:25:44.240 not only for him but also for FIFA, and after 0:25:44.280 --> 0:25:49.040 seeing the news that Jennings broke, Berryman, a lifelong soccer fan, 0:25:49.760 --> 0:25:53.320 thought it best to look more closely at Blazer's claims. 0:25:53.840 --> 0:25:58.600 He looked into the tax filing and discovered it there 0:25:58.720 --> 0:26:01.880 was a really good potential for a tax case. That's 0:26:01.920 --> 0:26:05.880 Amy Sabillian, Berryman's boss. We didn't see any open bank 0:26:05.920 --> 0:26:09.760 accounts even in his name. From my perspective, I saw 0:26:09.840 --> 0:26:12.960 somebody that was living pretty high living here in the 0:26:13.080 --> 0:26:19.960 United States, clearly making income and not filing despite the 0:26:19.960 --> 0:26:25.000 appearance of overflowing wealth. Remember the two Trump Tower apartments. 0:26:25.520 --> 0:26:29.560 Blazer hadn't filed US taxes in years. Mary pap Infest 0:26:29.600 --> 0:26:33.000 told me there's an easy explanation. Blazer's money was in 0:26:33.080 --> 0:26:36.639 fact FIFA's money. He didn't spend a penny of his 0:26:36.720 --> 0:26:40.800 own money. Conker Calf, the local FIFA organization, paid his 0:26:40.920 --> 0:26:44.000 rent every time he went out to dinner. Everything he 0:26:44.280 --> 0:26:49.359 ate was paid for. If the FBI was sniffing around FIFA, 0:26:49.440 --> 0:26:55.080 as media reports suggested, and Steve Berryman had just discovered 0:26:55.440 --> 0:26:58.479 a sure fire way to get inside a FIFA's inner circle, 0:26:59.480 --> 0:27:04.000 Chuck Lazier Chabillion's office reached out to the FBI to 0:27:04.080 --> 0:27:07.320 offer its help. The team presented it to them to 0:27:07.440 --> 0:27:12.800 see if they were interested in inviting us into their case. Again. 0:27:13.280 --> 0:27:16.080 The Department of Justice and the FBI have been tracking 0:27:16.119 --> 0:27:20.840 FIFA's corruption for years. It's dodgy TV deals, the payments 0:27:20.880 --> 0:27:25.480 of crooked officials in World Cup vote buying, but federal 0:27:25.520 --> 0:27:30.000 investigators had made surprisingly little progress in their case against 0:27:30.000 --> 0:27:35.240 the secretive international organization based in Zurich, Switzerland, a country 0:27:35.280 --> 0:27:39.320 famous for its secretive banking system. What Berryman had uncovered 0:27:39.359 --> 0:27:43.040 and was now offering the FBI was what law enforcement 0:27:43.119 --> 0:27:47.280 agencies throughout history have needed to crack any large scale 0:27:47.359 --> 0:27:56.359 corruption conspiracy. An inside man. Chabillion only realized later how 0:27:56.400 --> 0:28:01.040 important the Blazer break had been. I really did not 0:28:01.640 --> 0:28:06.920 understand the gravity of that connection with FIFA. There were 0:28:06.920 --> 0:28:09.399 members of the team that we're thinking this is huge. 0:28:09.880 --> 0:28:12.840 I remember thinking, uh, yeah, all right, you know, tax 0:28:12.920 --> 0:28:15.520 case sounds awesome. You know, that's what I want my 0:28:15.560 --> 0:28:19.199 agents to be working. And if it became something bigger 0:28:19.920 --> 0:28:26.280 than all, all the better. What started as an I 0:28:26.400 --> 0:28:31.000 r S investigation into an eccentric and colorful sports executive 0:28:31.480 --> 0:28:34.600 turned into one of the largest international corruption cases in 0:28:34.720 --> 0:28:38.560 history and would lead to dozens of FIFA officials being 0:28:38.680 --> 0:28:44.720 charged with fraud, corruption, and money laundering. The investigation would 0:28:44.760 --> 0:28:49.360 wipe out most of FIFA's entrenched senior leadership and exposed 0:28:49.400 --> 0:28:54.920 the dark underbelly of world soccer. Butbi rate is only 0:28:54.960 --> 0:28:59.600 the start of our story. Actually, it's more like the 0:28:59.640 --> 0:29:04.160 middle of our story. FIFA's corruption and depravity run deeper 0:29:04.200 --> 0:29:08.760