FIFA Trial Offers Links to Olympic Bid Inquiry

(ATR) The trial of three former FIFA kingpins in the Americas is providing insight into what may be ahead for an FBI investigation into bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games.

A jury in Brooklyn, New York is deliberating verdicts in the cases of the three men charged with conspiracy, money laundering, wire fraud and racketeering. Friday is the first full day of deliberations for the 12-member panel.

If found guilty, the defendants could face up to 20 years in prison.

The three South Americans were among nearly two dozen FIFA officials charged in 2015, many of them arrested by Swiss officials in a pre-dawn raid at a luxury hotel in Zurich where they were attending a FIFA meeting. A dozen have pleaded guilty, the rest are awaiting trial or verdicts, as in the case of the three in Brooklyn.

This week there’s word that the same prosecutors in Brooklyn are looking into whether they need to bring corruption charges involving bidding for the 2016 Olympics.

A half dozen people have been charged in Brazil, accused of operating a $2 million scheme to bribe IOC members for their vote in 2009 for Rio de Janeiro. Carlos Nuzman, leader of the bid and Rio 2016, ex-IOC member and former president of the Brazilian OlympicCommittee, is the best known among those charged. He’s denied the charges and is pleading not guilty.

While the FIFA trial in Brooklyn appears to be unrelated to possible corruption charges involving the 2016 Olympic bid, prosecutors and investigators will take on the new inquiry.

Brooklyn also seems to be an unlikely venue for a trial involving FIFA or an investigation into Olympic bidding. But in closing arguments this week, a prosecutor explained the crimes were carried out in the district served by the Eastern District of New York. The district, which does not include Manhattan, does include Queens, the New York City borough that contains LaGuardia and JFK airports.

Kristin Mace told jurors the FIFA defendants made "regular use of the airports" and "the waters surrounding Manhattan." Mace said that wire transfers were routed through Brooklyn.

With regular plane flights to Brazil from JFK, as well as the use of LaGuardia for connecting domestic flights, trips to New York by Nuzman and other defendants in the bid corruption probe could be part of the evidence that could lead to U.S. charges.

Rio de Janeiro was one of the five cities bidding for the 2016 Olympics. Madrid, Istanbul, Tokyo and Chicago were the other candidates. Chicago was eliminated in the first round of voting at the 2009 IOC Session in Copenhagen.

Reported by Ed Hula.