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| Disgraced Fifa executive Chuck Blazer with former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark. |
Details have emerged about the lavish lifestyle of football whistleblower Chuck Blazer, the former Fifa and CONCACAF official who has already pleaded guilty to charges in a corruption investigation involving bribes of more than $US100 million.
Blazer, 70, has been a central witness in the FBI investigation since he left the football world in 2013.
On November 25, 2013 he pleaded guilty to a litany of charges, forfeiting $US1.9 million, according to the US Justice Department.
He must fork out a second amount upon sentencing. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for failing to report foreign bank accounts, and five years for tax evasion.
Now in hospital reportedly suffering from colon cancer, Blazer's fall from grace has been splashed back into the public arena.
At the peak of his career, his extravagance was signalled by a parrot, which he sometimes carried on his shoulder,the New York Times reported.
He kept two apartments at Trump Tower in Manhattan - one for himself, the other said to be for his cats.
He earned the nickname "Mr 10 Per Cent" thanks to his fondness for collecting commissions.
Blazer started his career in the sport as a 'soccer dad' in New York, coaching his son's team until he worked his way up to become one of the most powerful men in global football. He served as general secretary of CONCACAF from 1990 until 2011. CONCACAF is a soccer governing body with jurisdiction over North America, Central America, and the Caribbean region. From 1997 until 2013 he was also a member of the executive committee of FIFA.
His blog, 'Travels With Chuck Blazer and his Friends", was hardly modest. It featured photos of him posing with celebrities from Miss Universe to Nelson Mandela, and a written account of Blazer joking around with Russian leader Vladimir Putin - Putin thought Blazer looked a lot like Karl Marx.
Blazer was not convicted of anything vague. A CONCACAF report found that Blazer had received more than $US20.6 million in commissions and fees between 1996 and 2011, most of it with little to no oversight. He charged more than $US26 million to his person American Express account, mingling personal and business charges, the report said.
He also failed to file US income tax returns for CONCACAF from 2007-2011, causing it to lose its tax-exempt status. He also failed to file personal tax returns between 2005 and 2010.
Blazer was tracked down in late 2011. Nine months later he wore a keychain embedded with a microphone to the 2012 London Olympics, recording conversations with international soccer officials and providing some of the evidence used to arrest FIFA officials this week.
- Stuff
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