To date, the FOJ has issued five partial final rulings which each concerns the holder of one or more accounts with a particular bank. These final rulings were not challenged before the Federal Criminal Court within the 30-day appeal period, and have thus become legally enforceable. In one further case, simplified legal assistance proceedings could be conducted without the need for a final ruling because the account-holder agreed to the handover of the relevant documents. The FOJ was thus able to pass this evidence on to the US authorities today. This week the FOJ issued a further three partial final rulings, and others will follow.

The US authorities also requested the handover of records relating to the criminal proceedings against FIFA officials that were suspended in 2010, and to criminal proceedings against those in charge of the sports marketing company ISL. They believe that the findings of the Swiss action have a significant bearing on their own criminal proceedings. Further to a supplementary request for legal assistance submitted on 25 September 2015, the FOJ approved the presence of US officials when extensive criminal records were triaged under the lead of the Zug cantonal authorities. These records, which comprise some 50 A4 lever-arch files, are currently being reviewed by the FOJ to determine conclusively their relevance to the criminal proceedings in the USA.

Around US$80 million frozen

Status of extradition proceedings

• This media release was originally published by the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) on 30 December 2015. To access the original, please click here.