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The Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have launched an investigation into dealings between President Donald Trump and the leaders of FIFA on the heels of the World Cup, accusing the leaders of conducting a “bribery and corruption scheme” to enrich themselves at the expense of soccer fans around the world.
On Monday, the committee’s ranking member, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), demanded that FIFA turn over any documents or records with relation to its dealings with Trump, including visitor logs for FIFA’s office in New York’s Trump Tower, which the organization has leased for a year. Raskin also demanded that President Gianni Infantino sit for an interview with members of Congress.
In a letter to Infantino, Raskin excoriated the Trump administration’s sudden dismissal of the Justice Department’s indictments in its wide-ranging corruption probe of FIFA earlier this year, which involved over $200 million in “bribes and kickbacks” across 20 countries for decades.
The lawmaker also criticized FIFA for charging customers outrageous prices. Some tickets for the final listed by FIFA, he noted, surged to a price of $33,000 at one point. Meanwhile, ticket buyers reported FIFA moving them into worse seats after their tickets were purchased. FIFA’s revenue for this World Cup surged to a record $15 billion, double the $7.5 billion made during the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
He said that FIFA has engaged in “outright bribery” related to this years’ and previous World Cups. This includes FIFA’s “hilariously fake” peace prize it granted to Trump after he was not awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2025, as well as Trump’s call to Infantino to overturn a U.S. players’ suspension during the tournament. The office in Trump Tower, meanwhile, largely sits empty, officials have said, despite Raskin estimating that renting such a space may cost $600,000 a year.
“In exchange for leasing an office in Trump Tower at inflated costs for limited use and inventing a bogus ‘peace prize’ for the President, the Trump Administration abandoned anti-corruption enforcement and allowed FIFA to operate as a multinational criminal enterprise with impunity,” read a press release on the investigation.
The investigation comes as Infantino is facing yet more scrutiny for Trump ties. On Tuesday, the organization announced that it is planning to sell a minority stake in a new company, FIFA Forward Enterprises, that will run the men’s and women’s World Cup competitions.
The organization said it’s planning to sell up to 21 percent of the company to investors — and that the investment group would be led by a firm run by Joshua Kushner, brother to Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner.
This would even further entrench Trump’s sphere of influence into FIFA, and has already faced criticism. Sky News reported that European nations are considering a boycott as a result of the plan.
In a statement, Europe’s governing body for soccer, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), said that the proposed deal “crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross.”
“The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially,” the group said. “None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
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Source: Truthout
