“Astounded” at charges against Jeff Webb; his 9,851sq ft Atlanta home; UK Serious Fraud Office assessing corruption
From Daily Mail UK
Jeffrey Webb charges ‘astound’ former adviser David Davies as FIFA corruption fallout continues
By Charles Sale for the Daily Mail
Disgraced FIFA ExCo member Jeffrey Webb’s former adviser David Davies, says he is ‘astounded’ at the corruption charges against him
Davies worked closely with Webb, previously viewed as a great reformer, at the CONCAF Congress in Nassau
The British adviser to disgraced FIFA ExCo member Jeffrey Webb says he was ‘astounded’ at the corruption charges levelled at FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s heir apparent.
Global football consultant David Davies, former senior FA executive, has worked closely with Webb — seen until his arrest this week as a great reformer — for more than a year and was alongside him at the CONCACAF Congress in Nassau in April.
But Davies was stunned to discover that Cayman island banker Webb, who hasn’t been seen in his homeland since last September, has supposedly built up a false image of wanting to clean up FIFA while furtively carrying on the legacy of corruption of his crook CONCACAF president predecessor Jack Warner.
Davies, recovering from a recent stroke, said: ‘Like everybody who worked with Jeffrey, I am absolutely astounded at what has happened and that charges have been made against him in the United States.
Part of the attraction of being one of his advisers was that he was so keen on reforming the old FIFA and his ideas reflected that.’
From AJC.COM
Indicted soccer official has Atlanta ties
One of the highest-ranking soccer officials named in the FIFA bribery scandal lives part time in the Atlanta area, and prosecutors allege that some of the illicit cash he received paid for the swimming pool at his palatial Rockdale County home.
Jeffrey Webb, a vice president of the sport’s governing body, was arrested at a Zurich hotel Wednesday along with five others in connection to what federal prosecutors claim is a case of bribes and kickbacks going back two decades.
Although Webb is a citizen of the Cayman Islands and his business interests are centered there, he is married to an Atlanta physician, Kendra Gamble-Webb. They own a 9,851-square-foot home that sits on 2.7 acres in Loganville.
Jeffrey Webb, a vice president of the governing body for FIFA, has this home in Rockdale County. Webb is one of the officials named in the FIFA bribery scandal, and prosecutors allege that some illicit cash he received paid for the swimming pool at the home. Photo from Rockdale County Board of Tax Assessors
Now that property and another Atlanta-area real estate holding tied to Webb have emerged as elements of a 47-count indictment that alleges corruption at the highest level of international soccer.
Webb is the president of CONCACAF, the body that governs soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean. His election to that position in 2012 also made him a FIFA vice president and a member of that organization’s executive committee.
The positions make Webb, 50, one of the most powerful people in his sport, and he has often been cited as a possible successor to Sepp Blatter, FIFA’s long-standing president. Blatter has not been charged in the corruption case.
According to the indictment, an associate of Webb’s solicited a $3 million bribe for Webb from an event management company. The company wanted a contract to stage Caribbean qualifying matches for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
The associate, Costas Takkas, arranged for a portion of the money to be transferred to the account of a swimming pool builder at United Community Bank in Blairsville, the indictment alleges. The builder is not named. Takkas also transferred another portion of the funds to SunTrust bank in Georgia for Webb’s purchase of real estate in Stone Mountain, the indictment says.
Records show that the Loganville home, which has five bedrooms and nine baths, was purchased by Webb in 2011 for $590,000. A pool was added to the property two years later, the records show. In 2013, Webb purchased a three-bedroom home in Stone Mountain for $60,000, records show.
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch, who supervised the initial stages of the investigation in her role as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said that FIFA officials believed the U.S. banking system was a “safe financial haven” for perpetuating a series of alleged schemes that enriched themselves illegally, according to a story in the New York Times.
“They did this over and over, year after year, tournament after tournament,” Lynch said.
All told, nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives were indicted on charges that included racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors contend that the bribes totaled $150 million.
Webb, whose background is in banking, became at least a part-time resident of Atlanta when he and Gamble-Webb, an obstetrician, were married in August 2013. The festivities included an elaborate reception at the St. Regis Hotel in Buckhead.
Gamble-Webb was quoted by weddingstylemagazine.com as saying she met Webb in Miami while with a group of friends at a hotel bar on South Beach. The couple maintained a long-distance relationship before Webb moved to Atlanta so they could be together, she said.
“It was truly a singular moment in time that changed my life forever,” she said, recalling the night she and Webb met.
The St. Regis was selected for their wedding because “we go to the spa there regularly and have always stayed there for romantic weekend getaways inside the city,” Gamble-Webb said.
When it was announced last year that Falcons owner Arthur Blank had acquired a Major League Soccer franchise for Atlanta, Webb was at the news conference, where he extolled the virtues of his adopted home.
“Excellent,” Webb said when asked to comment on the league’s expansion to Atlanta. “Excellent to see MLS expanding, and, of course, Atlanta’s a great city, a great community, and for many years it’s been a hotbed for soccer.”
The CONCACAF website describes Webb, who chairs FIFA’s anti-racism and discrimination task force, as “a global visionary whose commitment to development and reform is strongly impacting the world of football, not only at the regional level but also internationally.”
On Thursday, CONCACAF announced that it was “provisionally” banning Webb and another official linked to the scandal from the organization.
IMAGE: Jeffrey Webb, a vice president of the governing body for FIFA, has this home in Rockdale County. Webb is one of the officials named in the FIFA bribery scandal, and prosecutors allege that some illicit cash he received paid for the swimming pool at the home. Photo from Rockdale County Board of Tax Assessors
For more: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/indicted-soccer-official-has-atlanta-ties/nmQXF/
From ESPNFC
UK Serious Fraud Office assessing FIFA corruption allegations material
FIFA president Sepp Blatter addressed the FIFA congress in Zurich, saying all members had a duty to change the face of FIFA.
The Serious Fraud Office is actively assessing “material in its possession” relating to FIFA corruption allegations revealed by the FBI this week.
It comes after bank accounts at Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank were allegedly used to transfer cash as part of the conspiracy.
The three British-based international banks were named on the indictment released by the US Department of Justice, which charged a total of 18 people over alleged bribes totalling more than $150 million (£98 million) for television rights, sponsorship deals and World Cup votes.
A spokeswoman for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in London said: “The SFO continues actively to assess material in its possession and has made plain that it stands ready to assist ongoing international criminal investigations.”
The SFO would not comment on what the material is or when it first came to its attention.
Payments totalling millions of US dollars allegedly passed through accounts held with the three British banks, with the majority of transactions made in America.
A payment for $500,000 (£326,000) reached the HSBC account of a luxury yacht manufacturer in London in 2013, while $1 million was funnelled through a HSBC account in Hong Kong and a Standard Chartered Bank account in New York before ending up in the Cayman Islands in 2012, the charges said.
Some $200,000 (£131,000) were also wired between two Barclays accounts in New York and the Cayman Islands.
Standard Chartered Bank said: “We are aware that two payments cleared by Standard Chartered are mentioned in the indictment. We are looking into those payments and will not be commenting further at this time.”
Barclays declined to comment.
For more and video: http://www.espnfc.com/fifa-world-cup/story/2471494/uk-serious-fraud-office-assessing-fifa-allegations-material
