Citigroup Inc. said it received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York regarding the bank’s possible role in bribes paid to international soccer officials.
The government is seeking information on banking relationships and transactions tied to FIFA, global soccer’s governing body, New York-based Citigroup said Friday in its annual regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
FIFA is under investigation by U.S. and Swiss authorities for alleged bribery and corruption in the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar. Almost 40 people, including a dozen FIFA officials, have been arrested in connection with corruption in soccer.
The U.S. alleged in a May indictment of FIFA officials that money from bribery schemes passed through banks including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wachovia Bank, now a unit of Wells Fargo & Co. The indictment doesn’t accuse the banks of wrongdoing or indicate whether transfers in the FIFA case should have raised alarms, or say whether the banks alerted the government to the transactions.
On Friday, FIFA elected Gianni Infantino as its first new president since Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter took office in 1988. Infantino, 45, will help set priorities for one of sport’s most powerful bodies and oversee the World Cup as it tries to emerge from the scandal.
