First up this Thursday, massive corruption charges in the world of international soccer. U.S. prosecutors say some officials with FIFA, the group that governs soccer worldwide, have accepted more than 150 million dollars in bribes over the past 24 years. American officials say bribes influenced which countries got to host the World Cup, who could televise soccer games and where they'd be held.

 

They were expected to uphold the rules that keep soccer honest and to protect the integrity of the game. Instead, they corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and to enrich themselves. This Department of Justice is determined to end these practices, to root out corruption and to bring wrongdoers to justice.

 

Switzerland is also investigating FIFA. Swiss officials raided the group's headquarters in Zurich yesterday. FIFA has been investigated for corruption for years. It's repeatedly denied that its top officials are on the take. But FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who is not one of the accused, says the organization welcomes the investigations by American and Swiss officials and believes it will help root out wrongdoing in soccer.

 

Whichever nation hosts the World Cup potentially receives a-multibillion-dollar economic boost. 

 

And the decision to select Qatar to host the World Cup in 2022 has since become a controversial one. The small Middle Eastern country won the right to host the cup over Japan, South Korea, Australia and the United States. Officials have been under heavy scrutiny amid allegations of corruption in the selection process for both the 2022 cup and the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

 

FIFA's ethics committee hired an independent investigator later announcing no evidence of corruption and no reason to reopen the bidding process. But that investigator would distance himself from those claims. And the FBI would proceed with its investigation–ultimately resulting in today's charges. The American television market is one of the biggest for the World Cup, with networks paying billions of dollars for the right to broadcast. For that reason, U.S. authorities say they do have jurisdiction to file the corruption charges.