Fifa corruption trial kicks off with expectations of explosive revelations
New York — With witnesses threatened, documents destroyed and jurors cloaked in anonymity, the trial beginning on Monday in a New York courtroom has the trappings of a grisly organised-crime prosecution. It won’t be. It’s a corruption case against three former members of international soccer’s governing body. But the trial won’t lack for drama. The testimony is likely to lift the veil on a global racketeering and bribery plot that ran for more than two decades at Fifa’s highest levels. The case is the first to go to trial in an international crackdown on Fifa that began with a predawn police raid at a luxury Zurich hotel in May 2015. As the probe widened, Joseph "Sepp" Blatter, president for 17 years, and other Fifa officials were ousted and the sport was forced to confront allegations that executives pocketed more than $150m in payoffs in return for media broadcasting rights. In all, 42 people and entities have been charged (although not Blatter) and about two dozen have pleaded gu...
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