New wave of arrests nets more FIFA officials linked to corruption scandal

Twelve more FIFA officials were arrested Thursday in a pre-dawn operation led by United States officials in Switzerland, the New York Times reported.

Some of the arrests were made at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, the same luxury hotel where the other FIFA officials were arrested in May on corruption, according to the report. Authorities were looking to arrest senior soccer officials—current and former—on racketeering, money laundering and fraud charges.

The new charges are expected to hit South and Central American soccer organizations hard, especially since among those arrested were FIFA vice presidents and executive committee members Alfredo Hawit, of Honduras, and Juan Angel Napout, of Paraguay, officials told the news outlet. Hawit heads the Concacaf, a regional confederation of North and Central Caribbean, while Napout is the president of the South American confederation Conmebol.

It wasn’t clear who else was charged, but Swiss law enforcement officials told New York Times that embattled FIFA President Sepp Blatter and his deputy, Jerom Valcke, were not included in the list.