FIFA officials arrested, indicted

In a stunning move, officials in Switzerland have begun an operation "to arrest several top soccer officials and extradite them to the United States on federal corruption charges" reports the New York Times. According to law enforcement officials who spoke to the Times, the indictment will be unsealed against "more than 10 officials" with charges including wire fraud, racketeering, and money laundering.

United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who supervised the investigation as a United States attorney in Brooklyn, will look to prosecute the as-of-yet unnamed FIFA officials here in the U.S. As pointed out in the Times' article:

"United States law gives the Justice Department wide authority to bring cases against foreign nationals living abroad, an authority that prosecutors have used repeatedly in international terrorism cases. Those cases can hinge on the slightest connection to the United States, like the use of an American bank or Internet service provider." - New York Times, retrieved 12:18 AM May 27, 2015

FIFA president Sepp Blatter was not among those charged, however Jeffrey Webb, Eugenio Figueredo (the recently deposed head of CONMEBOL), and Jack Warner (the ex-President of CONCACAF and former Vice President of FIFA) were named in the indictment.

It's unclear what this will mean for the upcoming World Cup tournaments in Russia and Qatar - both of which came under intense media scrutiny for alleged corruption and bribery.