FIFA: Blatter, Valcke hire ‘big time’ U.S. lawyers

FIFA boss, Sepp Blatter, and Secretary-General, Jerome Valcke, have hired ‘big-time’ lawyers as ‘big-time’ criminal charges continue to rock world football’s governing body.
Blatter recently retained Richard Cullen, the chairman of the law firm McGuireWoods and a former U.S. federal prosecutor, revealed a top FIFA official familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Blatter’s top lieutenant, Valcke, also hired prominent New York defence attorney, Barry Berke, a second source said.
Cullen comes with white-shoe credentials and friends in high places: He is the chairman of the law firm McGuireWoods and is a former U.S. federal prosecutor.
Perhaps more important, Cullen is a close associate of FBI director James Comey, whose agency has led the investigation, including within FIFA’s powerful executive committee.
U.S. Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, unsealed the indictment in a packed conference room in the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s office on May 27, shortly after a series of arrests and raids by Swiss police in Zurich.
Lynch indicated that more charges may come.
Blatter, who has reportedly also retained top Zurich lawyer, Lorenz Erni, was not named in the indictment, but the document describes transactions such as an alleged $10 million bribe from South Africa that moved through FIFA accounts.