The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football’s (CONCACAF) “INTEGRITY COMMITTEE REPORT OF INVESTIGATION” dated April 18, 2013 has been published and was presented to the Executive Committee of CONCACAF.

The Executive Summary from the Report is attached.

The whole report can be downloaded at www.concacafintegrityreport.com

The investigation consisted of five components: (i) preservation, collection, and review of CONCACAF’s documents and other evidence; (ii) attempts to secure evidence from Austin Jack Warner (“Jack Warner” or “Warner”), the former President of CONCACAF, and Charles “Chuck” Blazer (“Chuck Blazer” or “Blazer”), the former General Secretary of CONCACAF; (iii) collection and review of evidence from sources external to CONCACAF; (iv) forensic review of CONCACAF’s finance and accounting records; and (v) interviews with relevant witnesses. The Committee empowered counsel to conduct interviews and report to the Committee during regular meetings in the form of oral presentations and interview memoranda.

Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer were central figures in this investigation.   The Committee corresponded with Warner and Blazer in an effort to secure their participation in the investigation and their evidence, but each declined the Committee’s requests.  Relevant correspondence between the Committee and Warner and Blazer is attached to this report.  As a result of their decisions not to participate, the Committee did not have their statements to use in response to evidence that appears to implicate them.  This lack of evidence, however, was counterbalanced by credible documentary evidence that spoke clearly and cogently about the conduct of each of them.  The Committee was careful to rely upon credible documentary evidence wherever possible because, in most instances, the documents provided a compelling account of what happened.  The Committee also carefully considered witness statements and credited such statements where circumstances or corroboration warranted such a view.

The Report alleges the following:

A.         In connection with the Centre of Excellence and CONCACAF operations in Trinidad and Tobago:

Warner Committed Fraud Against CONCACAF and FIFA

Warner Committed Fraud and Misappropriated Funds from FFA

Warner and Blazer Breached Their Fiduciary Duties to CONCACAF

Warner and Blazer Violated the CONCACAF Statutes

Warner Violated the FIFA Ethics Code

B.         In connection with the compensation of, and use of CONCACAF assets by, the former General Secretary:

Blazer Misappropriated CONCACAF Funds

Warner and Blazer Breached Their Fiduciary Duties to CONCACAF

Blazer Violated the CONCACAF Statutes

Blazer Violated the FIFA Ethics Code

C.         In connection with the failure of CONCACAF and its subsidiary, CMTV, to file

U.S. federal income tax returns and pay taxes:

Blazer Violated U.S. Federal Tax Laws

Blazer Breached His Fiduciary Duties to CONCACAF and CMTV

Blazer Violated the CONCACAF Statutes

D.         In connection with CONCACAF’s financial statements and audits:

Warner and Blazer Committed Fraud Against CONCACAF

Warner and Blazer Breached Their Fiduciary Duties to CONCACAF

Warner and Blazer Violated the CONCACAF Statutes

In a Reuters story “FBI examines US soccer boss’s financial records by Mark Hosenball it says:

In a letter dated Jan. 29, 1996, Jack Warner, president of the Caribbean Football Union, and until recently president of CONCACAF and vice president of FIFA, instructs the vice president of a bank to wire transfer $36;57,750 to an account at Barclays Bank in the Cayman Islands maintained by a company called Sportvertising Ltd. The letter says that if any problems arise with the transfer, the bank should contact Blazer at CONCACAF’s New York office.

A 1990 document, signed by both Blazer and Warner and reviewed by Reuters, identifies Blazer as “President” of Sportvertising Inc. The document, headed “retainer agreement”, describes how CONCACAF, via the company, employed Blazer as its general secretary, paying his company both monthly fees and “a 10% override feel on all sponsorships and TV rights fees from all sources received by CONCACAF or for CONCACAF programs/tournaments”, excluding “sponsorships arranged at the local level on tournaments and events.”

In a story by Andrew Jennings that appeared in the Independent on Sunday under the title “Chuck Blazer and corrupt FIFA’s robber barons” it says:

“Blazer, 65, has been well-rewarded since joining Warner’s team in 1990. His confidential contract reveals that he hires himself out from his Cayman-based company Sportvertising. It also reveals that he pockets 10% in ‘commissions’ from regional football marketing deals. Last year he picked up nearly $2 million and over the last five years has taken $9.6 million. The sums are recorded in Concacaf accounts – which are not made public – under the heading of ‘Commissions’ — but with no indication he received them.

“Blazer defends the omission as ‘consistent with the level of granularity of other items in the financial reports’ and that these payments are ‘consistent with industry standards’ but has declined to quote examples. His remuneration from Concacaf has never been disclosed. Blazer is paid through his company Sportvertising, domiciled in Cayman.

“He [Blazer] has been lauded as the ‘whistleblower’ who ejected Warner from FIFA. When Warner resigned, he was automatically replaced by Concacaf vice-president Lisle Austin from Barbados — who immediately fired Blazer. In turn, Blazer barred Austin from the Concacaf office in Trump Tower. Austin then won a judgement in court in the Bahamas where Concacaf is registered, confirming him as president. But FIFA stepped in and suspended Austin for breaking FIFA’s rule that members of their football family must never use the civil courts to settle disputes.”

From the Report:

“The evidence reviewed by the Integrity Committee supports the conclusion that Chuck Blazer misappropriated at least $15 million in compensation payments from CONCACAF during the time he served as General Secretary.  More specifically, Blazer caused CONCACAF to pay to him the following amounts for commissions, fees, and rent expenses without obtaining authorization for such payments from the Executive Committee or the Congress and without being entitled to such amounts under any contract: (i) more than $11 million in commissions; (ii) more than $3.5 million in fees; and (iii) more than $837,000 in rent expense payments.  The evidence also shows that Blazer improperly compensated himself outside of the terms of the Sportvertising Contracts he previously had with CONCACAF by paying himself commissions on various revenues that did not qualify as sponsorships or TV rights fees, such as the proceeds from tournament gate receipts and possibly funds he secured from FIFA to build a broadcast studio at CONCACAF.”

“Blazer also avoided any challenge to his unauthorized compensation by failing to address his compensation in the Executive Committee at any time during the more than 13 years after his 1994 Sportvertising Contract expired on July

17, 1998, notwithstanding the fact that, as a fiduciary and under the FIFA Ethics Code, he was obligated to raise the issue.

“At the outset of his tenure as CONCACAF General Secretary, Blazer received authorization from the Executive Committee to compensate himself in the form of commissions. As  a  result  of  that  authorization,  Warner  and  Blazer  entered  into  the  1990  Sportvertising Contract, which was renewed in 1994.  After the expiration of the 1994 Sportvertising Contract on July 17, 1998, Blazer had no authority to pay himself funds that he was not already entitled to receive under the Sportvertising Contracts because he had no agreement with CONCACAF on what his compensation would be.  Once the 1994 Sportvertising Contract expired and was not renewed, Blazer had a duty, as a fiduciary of CONCACAF, to obtain authorization for any compensation that he would pay himself.  He could not presume from the fact that the Executive Committee did not raise the issue that he had consent to pay himself as before, especially when his compensation was increasing significantly and the composition of the Executive Committee was changing over time.  Notwithstanding his obligation to raise the issue, Blazer paid himself steadily increasing amounts in the form of commissions and fees over the next 13 years.  Before the 1994 Sportvertising Contract expired on July 17, 1998, Blazer’s accrued compensation for the most recent two-year period – as reported in CONCACAF’s 1996-97 financial statements and reflected in the accounting records – was approximately $750,000 or about $375,000 per year.  By 2011, Blazer’s accrued compensation – as reported in CONCACAF’s accounting records – had grown to over $4.9 million for that year alone, and payments to Blazer from accrued compensation in that year totaled over $6.5 million.

“After the  expiration  of the  1994  Sportvertising  Contract,  Blazer  avoided  any challenge to his compensation by failing to raise the issue in the Executive Committee.  Indeed, the Integrity Committee identified only two specific occasions during the entire 21-year period in which Blazer served as General Secretary when his compensation was explicitly discussed in the Executive Committee – once in 1990 and again in 1996.   Both of these occasions occurred before the  expiration  of  the  1994  Sportvertising  Contract.”

“The   Committee concludes that, after the1994 Sportvertising Contract expired on July 17, 1998, Blazer compensated himself for more than 13 years without proper authorization from the Executive Committee, a period in which he collected from CONCACAF more than $15 million in unauthorized commissions, fees, and rent expense payment.”