by director james comey of the fbi, by acting u.s. attorney kelly curry here in the eastern district of new york and chief of investigation richard weber of the irs s criminal investigation. we are here to announce charges and arrest of individuals as part of our long running investigation into the world of organized soccer. many of the individuals and organizations we will describe today were entrusted with keeping soccer open and accessible to all. they held important responsibilities at every level, from building soccer fields for children in developing countries, to organizing the world cup. they were expected to uphold the rules that keep soccer honest and to protect the integrity of the game. instead, they corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and to enrich themselves. this department of justice is determined to end these practices, to root out corruption, and to bring wrong
extensive investigation. i also want to recognize acting u.s. attorney kelly curry for leadership of this u.s. attorney s office, and i want to express my appreciation for the cooperation and the assistance that we have received from our international partners particularly the swiss authorities. i want to make clear that the defendants arrested in zurich this morning had the right to a fair and impartial extradition process and they will receive a fair trial if they are brought to this country. now at this time i d like to introduce the current u.s. attorney for the eastern district of new york kelly curry, who will provide additional details on today s announcement. good morning. the 14 defendants charged in this indictment held a variety of roles in the soccer and world soccer organization. the soccer officials luke russert and ari melber are with me. ari, this is just what a headline. i mean this is massive.
catherine, the evidence here seems overwhelming. do you think prosecutors will seek the death penalty? i think it s too early to tell and it ought to be too early to tell. massachusetts is not one of the states that has the death penalty and the federal government has been somewhat respectful in whether or not they seek that particular in this circumstance. we have a 19-year-old, we don t know who was leading who, what other involvement. so it s too early to answer that question. now, let me ask you, kelly, the new york times reported at the brefiiefing today in the suspect s hospital room. the brief bedside proceeding began when judge bowler asked a
general appearance worn by bomber two, catherine. he also seized a lot of other evidence. seems like they have a lot to go with. and it s one of the reasons why we re talking about the miranda issue and large repercussions when we re discussing that. this case is not going to turn on a confession by this particular suspect, i don t believe. he is certainly presumed innocent at this point in time but it looks like the government has quite substantive evidence setting aside any remarks that the individual has made, the comments that he may or may not make about other involvement, his brother s involvement are much more important to them than an admission that might be admissible at the trial. there s been a controversy around the miranda rights not being read to him and whether that will come back to haunt the prosecution at trial if in fact there s a trial and no pleading of guilty, kelly. then we understand his rights
constitutional rights and the tenants of this system. and we need to keep that in mind. we hear nonsense like america s a battlefield so even for u.s. citizens we can throw it all out the window from here going forward because of sudden nebulous war on terror. that s the debate, kelly. you ve done terrorism cases. when you have senators like lindsey graham saying that the suspect should be tried as an enemy combatant and then the new york times comes back with an editorial mr. graham s reckless statement makes a mockery of the superb civilian police work that led to the suspect s capture, starting with the skillful analysis of the video recordings of the marathon. there is no reason that the lawyers and courts cannot continue to do their work. what do thou sayeth, kelly.