Lynch expects more charges against FIFA

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Monday that she expects additional charges will be filed against officials with soccer’s global governing body.

Lynch said that her agency is still warming up after launching its probe against the Fédéracion Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) earlier this year.

{mosads}“We anticipate pursuing additional charges against individuals and entities,” she said in Zurich, Switzerland, according to The New York Times.

“To anyone who seeks to live in the past and return soccer to the days of corruption and bribery, cronyism and patronage, you are on the wrong side of progress and do a disservice to the integrity of this wonderful sport,” Lynch added.

Lynch’s remarks come as international law enforcement officials meet in Zurich and Amsterdam over their ongoing investigation into FIFA.

The New York Times reported that Lynch appeared at the International Association of Prosecutors conference in Switzerland alongside Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber, the leader of a parallel investigation into FIFA.

Lauber said on Monday that his investigators has seized suspect property in the Alps and identified 121 bank accounts during his inquiry into soccer’s global governing body.

Lynch’s appearance with him comes amid an ongoing Department of Justice, FBI and IRS investigation into FIFA launched last May.

DOJ announced earlier this year that it had indicted multiple FIFA executives, alleging they had forked over $150 million in kickbacks and bribes for marketing global soccer contests since 1991.

Switzerland, meanwhile, is examining FIFA for allegedly accepting bribes during the bidding of the next two World Cups, appointed to Russia for the 2018 edition and Qatar for the 2022 version.

The New York Times said on Monday that Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago are now pursuing their own examinations of FIFA following the DOJ’s lead four months ago.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced in late May that he is resigning over the controversy. 

He remains the organization’s leader until new elections take place next year.