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17 DePaul Bus. & Comm. L.J. 149 (2019)
The International Fight against Corruption in Professional Sports: The Role of Corporate Governance, Regulation and Investigation in Soccer

handle is hein.journals/depbcl17 and id is 169 raw text is: 









  The  International Fight  Against  Corruption  in Professional
    Sports: The  Role  of Corporate  Governance,   Regulation
                   and  Investigation in Soccer

                   Alexander  Daniel Slade, J.D.



                        I.  INTRODUCTION
  For decades, the business world of international sports has shame-
fully been subject to increasing levels of corruption. International
sports organizations have been rife with fraudulent financial activities
including: transactional-based financial crimes, bribery, illegitimate
athlete transfers and acquisitions, corporate entities forcing contract
negotiations, agent misrepresentation; racketeering, and the violation
of financial fair-play rules. These areas of corruption represent situa-
tions where both  individuals and corporations are choosing to take
advantage of behind closed doors financial dealings with limited in-
house regulation. These types of corporate activities are taking place
in order to avoid state, federal, and international law.
  Throughout  international sports, the problem of money laundering
is taking place through financial activities such as sponsorship and ad-
vertising arrangements, along with the purchase of clubs, athletes, and
image rights. Complex techniques are used to launder money through
soccer and other sports, including methods such as cross-border trans-
fers, tax havens, and front companies.1
  The  professional sports industry is challenged with eliminating fi-
nancial corruption within its world markets. Many countries are call-
ing for its organizations to increase the level of internal regulation and
investigation within these sporting bodies, as well as to assess and re-
duce external corrupt influences. Through the adoption of new anti-
corruption measures  and enhanced  corporate governance,  legal and
economic  commentators  hope that the global sporting industry can be
relieved of this detrimental problem.
  This note will then analyze the fallout of FIFA, whose president,
Sepp  Blatter, resigned, after numerous  officials were arrested for
racketeering, fraud, and money laundering. Given the shockwave that
occurred throughout  the soccer world as a result of these actions, I

  1. Problem, TRANSPARENCY INT'L, https://www.transparency.org/topic/detait/sport/ (last vis-
ited Mar. 14, 2018).


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