Episode notes
December 2011. An overweight, bearded American man is approached by FBI agents outside his apartment in Trump Tower. He owes $11 million in unpaid taxes on hidden income. He keeps a separate apartment in the same building — for his cats. His name is Chuck Blazer, and he is about to become the most consequential informant in the history of world football.
In this episode:
• How Chuck Blazer rose from a youth-team organiser in Westchester County to General Secretary of CONCACAF
• The IRS investigation that gave the FBI its leverage — and the wire he wore to the 2012 London Olympics
• Blazer's November 2013 sealed guilty plea: 10 federal counts including racketeering, wire fraud, and tax evasion
• The bribes Blazer admitted accepting — including for the 2010 World Cup vote that sent the tournament to South Africa
Key documents cited:
• US Department of Justice indictment, May 2015
• Chuck Blazer's unsealed guilty plea transcript (E.D.N.Y., November 25, 2013)
Full transcript and source links: thefifafiles.com/episodes/1-the-informant
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