Cleaning up Sport: The Growing Use of Employee Informants

Analysis

The tsunami that hit FIFA in Zurich a few weeks ago has brought back to the surface several interesting questions in relation to whistle-blowing/employee informants and the long reach of the US justice system.

These themes were also brought into sharp focus in the Lance Armstrong scandal story a few years ago.

In this article we discuss:

• The key points in the FIFA and Armstrong cases

• The extra jurisdictional nature of the US justice system

• Whistle blowing protection- internationally and within the GCC

• Actions that a GCC employer can take to protect whistleblowers and punish wrongdoers

Football deflated

What should have been just another routine week for FIFA has turned into a spate week of arrests of several high ranking FIFA officials on corruption charges. The investigation began in surreal circumstances- a pursuit down Fifth Avenue of a larger than life character riding a mobility scooter who had two expensive apartments, one for him and one for his cats. The man, Chuck Blazer, was a high ranking FIFA executive who was living the high life with no ostensible explanation for how it was being funded.