Blatter and Platini Exonerated Again in Swiss Fraud Case

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, the men who used to rule football with the iron-fisted hand of Ghaddafi, have scored a famous win. Second time lucky The Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court has set aside their convictions for fraud. In many ways, the recent verdict concludes a decade-long legal ordeal. This tale originally started with a federal investigation starting in September of 2015. Blatter and Platini were accused of having conspired to stage an improper payment of more than $2 million from FIFA’s accounts in 2011. They have repeatedly rejected these allegations.

The FIFA corruption scandal investigation into Blatter and Platini’s activities brought about the beginning of the end for their storied careers in football. Blatter, now 89, and Platini, 69, were accused of fraud, forgery, mismanagement, and misappropriation. In many regards, the case is a cash payment of 2 million Swiss francs. Blatter signed off on this payment to Platini on Feb. 8, 2011. At the time, Platini served as Blatter's presidential adviser from 1998 to 2002 and was considered a strong contender to succeed Blatter in FIFA's leadership.

The two had not engaged in any wrongdoing, according to the duo. They were met with a surprise legal onslaught, when the Swiss attorney general’s office appealed their first acquittal in July 2022. Prosecutors had requested 20-month suspended sentences for both men. The Extraordinary Appeals Chamber overturned these efforts, re-confirming their innocence and acquitting them of all charges.

The ongoing legal wrangling has already done forever damage to the reputations of both men, icons in their own rights and once-similarly powerful titans within the sport. In contrast, Sepp Blatter lasted a jaw-dropping 17 years in office as FIFA president. At the same time, Michel Platini became greatly revered for his transformative impacts on and off the field. The consequences of the federal probe went far beyond their professional lives, forever changing the leadership structure at FIFA and FIFA itself.