AP Photo/Andre Penner

Seven high-ranking FIFA officials were arrested in Zurich Tuesday on U.S. charges, and are at the center of two criminal investigations by the U.S. and Switzerland. In total, the U.S. Justice Department says nine soccer officials are among 14 people indicted on corruption charges. Meanwhile, Swiss prosecutors are in the midst of a separate criminal case surrounding the bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar.

The news of the arrests, ongoing investigations, and criminal charges come three days ahead of the FIFA presidency election Friday, in which Sepp Blatter hopes to assume his fifth term in the position. The details surrounding the charges and the investigation are dense and remarkable.

Of note …

(epa)

1. The U.S. charges allege FIFA corruption involving World Cup bids and also marketing and broadcast deals.

2. Former FIFA executive Chuck Blazer and three other people have already plead guilty to the charges against them. The New York Times reports Blazer forfeited $1.9 million upon pleading guilty 2013, and will make a second payment at sentencing. The BBC adds that Blazer took part in undercover work for the FBI during its investigation.

3. Sepp Blatter was not charged, and FIFA spokesman, Walter de Gregorio has stated that Blatter was not involved in any alleged wrongdoing and that the election would go ahead as planned.

4. Jack Warner, who was the head of CONCACAF from 1991-2011, was one of the nine FIFA officials arrested in Zurich. Warner resigned his positions in FIFA, CONCACAF and his national association in 2011 after being accused of attempting to buy the votes of Caribbean federation officials in the 2011 FIFA presidential election.

Jack Warner (AFP/Getty Images)

5. CONCACAF is a focal point of the U.S.’s indictment, which alleges that bribes involving media and marketing around World Cup qualifiers in CONCACAF, the Gold Cup, the CONCACAF Champions League, the Copa América, the South American club championship, and the Copa Libertadores.

6. Another claim made in the indictment is that these bribes were found in connection with the selection of the host country for the 2010 World Cup.

7. Swiss authorities said in a statement that in addition to arresting the seven FIFA officials, they also seized “electronic data and documents” at FIFA’s head office in Zurich.

Sepp Blatter (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

8. Switzerland’s treaty with the United States gives the Swiss the power to refuse extradition for tax crimes, but on matters of general criminal law, the Swiss have agreed to turn people over for prosecution, such is the case here.

The arrests come just over a year after former United States attorney Michael J. Garcia finished a two year investigation into the bidding process for the Qatar World Cup at the behest of FIFA. Garcia turned his report over to FIFA, who then refused to make it public and instead released a summary of the report in which the top judge of FIFA’s ethics committee acknowledged that violations of the code of ethics had occurred, but the integrity of the vote remained intact.

Garcia stated that the FIFA’s summary of his work was “materially incomplete” and an “erroneous representation of the facts.”

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