FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, and two other organizations in the Americas are set to receive about $200 million in compensation from the U.S. government after the Justice Department classified them as victims in the corruption scandal that toppled most of their senior leadership in 2015.
The repayment will begin with an initial payment of $32.3 million in forfeited funds, the Justice Department announced Tuesday, but prosecutors have approved a plan in which the soccer organizations could receive as much as $201 million.
The return of the money comes six years after a sprawling criminal prosecution laid bare decades of corruption on a stunning scale, with millions of dollars diverted from the sport and into the pockets of global soccer officials and businessmen.