FIFA warns OffshoreAlert ahead of next week's fraud conference
By OffshoreAlert, April 29, 2010
The governing body of world soccer – FIFA – has attempted to intimidate OffshoreAlert ahead of our conference in Florida next week at which allegations of fraud and corruption within FIFA will be made.
In a letter to OffshoreAlert on April 23, FIFA's attorney, Lawrence Cartier, of London-based law firm Cartier & Co., issued a thinly-veiled threat of a possible libel action should a session by journalist and film-maker Andrew Jennings contain any "defamatory statements".
In his letter, Cartier even suggested that we "make our client's concerns known to the sponsors of the Conference", even referring to one sponsor by name.
Notwithstanding the letter, the session on 'Corruption in Soccer – The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote-Rigging and Ticket Scandals' by British-based investigative reporter and film-maker Andrew Jennings will proceed unfettered by outside interference.
OffshoreAlert publisher David Marchant says: "Anyone who is familiar with the history of OffshoreAlert should know that threats of libel action will not dissuade us from presenting information fairly and accurately to our audience, whether it is in our newsletter or at our conference.
"British libel law is widely considered to be repugnant, particularly in the USA where, in fact, British libel judgments have been held unenforceable in at least two states because they were, literally, considered to be repugnant to each state’s public policy.
"It lends support to illegal activity by discouraging journalists from exposing those who deserve to be exposed, all the while enriching attorneys at the expense of society in general. It is a third-world law that has no place in a developed society.
"The law is so slanted against journalists that something called 'libel tourism' has developed in the UK, which describes a situation where neither plaintiff nor defendant resides in the UK but the plaintiff sues there anyway because of a perceived increased chance of success, knowing that the courts will grant jurisdiction if the offending material is available in the UK."
The session on Corruption in Soccer will be the final session at The 8th Annual OffshoreAlert Financial Due Diligence Conference, in Association with Grant Thornton, which will take place at The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach in Florida on May 2-4, 2010.
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