Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini Charged Over $2.2 Million FIFA Payout

(Bloomberg) -- The former chief of FIFA Sepp Blatter and his one-time heir apparent have been indicted by Swiss prosecutors for fraud over a 2 million Swiss franc ($2.2 million) payout.

Blatter and Michel Platini have been charged with fraud and document forgery over the payment made eight years after the Frenchman had ceased working as a consultant to FIFA, the Swiss Office of the Attorney-General said in a statement. 

The payment to Platini, a French soccer legend who went on to become the head of the European soccer federation UEFA was “made without a legal basis,” the Swiss said. 

FIFA in 2016 banned both men from any soccer-related events for six years following investigations into how Blatter, who ran FIFA for nearly two decades, paid the cash to Platini. Both men have previously denied wrongdoing, saying the payment fulfilled a verbal contract between the pair for services Frenchman provided to FIFA from 1998 to 2002. 

The attorney general’s office will present its conclusions at a hearing before the Federal Criminal Court.

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