Infantino faces scrutiny after Democratic midterm landslide as congressional pressure rises
Gianni Infantino has come under renewed scrutiny after this week’s US midterm elections delivered a Democratic landslide in the Senate and the House of Representatives, a shift that has focused attention on his relationship with Donald Trump and on recent allegations surrounding Fifa.
Kozo Tashima this week announced he will stand as a candidate in March's leadership vote, providing Fifa members an alternative in the contest for the organisation’s top job. At the same time, Democratic control of both chambers has prompted talk of internal reform in Washington, with some Democrats warning of the need to "lawyer up" and judicial matters connected to the Trump administration now in the hands of its opponents.
Representative Jamie Raskin, the Maryland 8th district congressman widely tipped to become the new chair of the House judiciary committee, sent a letter to Infantino dated 26 July that revisited an earlier criminal matter. That letter raised the wire fraud and money laundering case against Full Play Group that was part of the 2015 indictments against the Blatter regime and that was dropped by the Trump administration because it was "not a priority".
Raskin’s letter described what he called "Fifa’s brazen campaign to curry favour with Donald Trump since his re-election", cited the "hilariously fake 'Fifa Peace Prize'" and criticised the leasing of office space in Trump Tower at an economically irrational rate, calling these and other elements a "strategy of outright bribery". The correspondence also referenced examples of price gouging and "fraudulent sales tactics" and signalled the prospect of fuller disclosure of communications between Fifa and the Trump organisation.
Raskin has also been sharply critical of a private deal linked to the World Cup, calling the Joshua Kushner-linked scheme to sell off part of the World Cup a "smash-and-grab scam of colossal proportions". "Now we see where all the bribes, kickbacks and sweetheart deals have been leading," he told the Guardian, and the letter suggested a promise of a full congressional investigation.
Alongside those developments, reporting has drawn attention to a series of public and internal controversies tied to Infantino: his public interactions with Donald Trump, his use of Fifa resources alleged to have been used to electioneer, talk of having his maid’s visa raised at government level, his selfie with Pelé’s coffin and his role in the vote for Saudi 2034. Those matters form part of the cloud of revelations now surrounding the Fifa presidency.
Raskin could have the authority to compel testimony and documents from Fifa, JP Morgan and entities associated with the Kushner family, and the letter’s references amount to groundwork for congressional scrutiny; with Kozo Tashima standing for the March leadership vote, Fifa members will face a choice when that election takes place.
