American Huckster
Author(s): Mary Papenfuss, Teri Thompson
The first inside account of the international soccer scandal that rocked the world and the American at its centerthe incredible story of how a stay-at-home New York soccer dad illegally made millions off the worlds most powerful and corrupt sports organization and became an unlikely FBI whistleblower.
He was the middle-class Jewish kid from Queens who rose from local youth soccer leagues to the heights of FIFA, becoming a larger-than-life, jet-setting buccaneerand the most notorious FBI informant in sports history. For years, Chuck Blazer skimmed over $20 million from FIFA, stashing his money in offshore accounts and real estate holdings that included a luxury apartment in Trump Tower, a South Beach condo, and a hideaway in the Bahamas. Instantly recognizable with his unruly mass of salt-and-pepper hair and matching beardand a rotating crop of arm candyBlazer was one of the most flamboyant figures in the glitzy social and political circles of international soccer. Over the course of thirty years, Blazer leveraged his friendships with the likes of Vladimir Putin, Hillary Clinton and Nelson Mandela, to increase his influence with the mandarins of global soccermost notably Sepp Blatter, FIFAs long-time godfather.
Once Blatter tapped Blazer to be the first American in almost fifty years to sit on FIFAs executive committee, the erstwhile accountant steadily accumulated money and poweruntil 2013 when the FBI and IRS nabbed Blazer and charged him with fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion. In exchange for immunity, Blazer agreed to let the Feds install a microphone in his keychain to entrap his larcenous band of brothersleading to the shocking arrest and indictment of eighteen FIFA officials for racketeering and bribery.
In this taut and suspenseful tale of white-collar crime and betrayal at the highest levels of international business, investigative reporters Mary Papenfuss and Teri Thompson draw on sources in U.S. law enforcement as well as in Blazers inner circle to tell the surreal tale of this astonishing character and the scandal that rocked the world.
Review(s):
Mary Papenfuss and Teri Thompson have done a fabulous job of unraveling the biggest corruption story in world sport. Theyve dug deep into documents they shouldnt have seen, talked with people who cant be named. American Huckster is a brilliant, gripping piece of work.
Chuck Blazer is a character straight out of Damon Runyon. He may have been able to extort millions from the Lords of Soccer, but in American Huckster Teri Thompson and Mary Papenfuss deliver the definitive take-down of a world-class fraud.
ISBN:9780062449672
