Comme je vous le disais, Emilio Garcia, le responsable légal de la FIFA qui fait tout pour plaire à Infantino, a été l'homme de l'ombre derrière le processus ayant permis d'annuler la suspension de Balogun
Garcia, avocat espagnol, a ramené beaucoup de personnes espagnoles au sein du département légal et avait aussi couvert son ami, Carlos Schneider, le responsable des commissions juridiques, lorsque ce dernier a été écarté pour un scandale de trop (il avait permis l'obtention d'un contrat à une société où siégeait un membre de sa famille et cette compagnie continuait d'être payé après la finalisation du travail)
Garcia, c'est la "boîte noire" de la FIFA aujourd'hui, celui qui supervise un département légal réduit de plus de moitié suite à la délocalisation à Miami.
Un département qui a embauché de nouvelles personnes, souvent hallucinées par la manière de travailler, avec une Commission d'éthique réduite à peau de chagrin sans aucune influence, ni indépendance qui doit pourtant se charger des enquêtes...
FULL timeline of the campaign to bring Balogun back, according to a half dozen U.S. government & soccer officials:
- Wednesday after U.S.-Bosnia match: Andrew Giuliani alerted Trump to the red card (Trump & Giuliani had been talking multiple times/week since start of World Cup and regularly before that.)
- Wed night: Giuliani, Lutnick and U.S. Soccer officials began activating on plans to challenge red card
- That kicked off 4 days of coordinated lobbying, legal maneuvering & diplomacy that stretched from Oval Office to Zurich
- On *Thursday* Trump dialed Gianni Infantino and asked abt FIFA’s rules around the red card decision and grounds for suspension. (They’ve known each other for 8 yrs.)
- FIFA declined to confirm any specific discussions but reiterated to POLITICO that the decision to suspend the one-match ban was made by an independent disciplinary committee.
- As U.S. Soccer’s legal team formally prepared & submitted its appeal to FIFA, Giuliani Lutnick offered to make White House attorneys available to assist
- At the same time, Giuliani and Scott Goodwin — a hedge-fund manager who had helped pay the salary of Mauricio Pochettino — zeroed in on the officiating history of referee Raphael Claus
-Articles examining previous controversies involving Claus circulated among senior gov officials as they evaluated every argument that could bolster the appeal
- On FIFA side, Emilio García, who oversees the legal affairs of FIFA, advised Infantino on the available procedural options
- García other FIFA officials worked to determine whether the circumstances of Balogun’s tackle met the narrow standards that would allow the disciplinary decision to be revisited
- By Sunday, FIFA announced that Balogun’s one-match suspension would be suspended
- FIFA insists that the decision was an independent one made by its 18-person disciplinary committee, but it would not say whether the decision was decided through a vote, and it has not published a report on the decision.
politico.com/live-updates/20…
