FIFA Leader Hires High Profile Lawyer in Corruption Case

Sepp Blatter, recently-resigned head of FIFA, the world-wide governing body for soccer, has hired Richard Cullen, chairman of McGuireWoods and a former U.S. federal prosecutor, to defend him against potential corruption charges, Reuters reports. U.S. authorities have indicted nine current and former FIFA officials and five corporate executives for engaging in a long-running $150 million bribery scheme. Though Blatter has not been charged, his tenure as FIFA’s leader since 1998 is under scrutiny by U.S. and Swiss authorities. In the past, Cullen represented Former Majority Leader of the House of Representatives Tom DeLay in the corruption investigation of Jack Abramoff, and deposed acting director of the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives department Ken Melson after a botched gun-smuggling operation.