A small group of FIFA's top officials, including ex-President Sepp Blatter and his former second-in-command, Jérôme Valcke, allegedly paid each other bonuses and other incentives worth tens of millions of dollars, according to a cache of contracts disclosed by internal investigators on Friday.
The contracts, which investigators say were previously unknown to most of the top brass at soccer's world governing body, also allegedly show payments for former Deputy Secretary-General Markus Kattner. Mr. Kattner was fired by FIFA last month for allegedly paying himself millions in secret bonuses[11]. He didn't respond to requests for comment at the time or on Friday.
"The evidence appears to reveal a coordinated effort by three former top officials of FIFA to enrich themselves through annual salary increases, World Cup bonuses and other incentives totaling more than 79 million Swiss francs [$79.7 million]—in just the last five years," said Bill Burck, a partner with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the U.S. law firm that has run an internal probe over the past year.
In his role as chief financial officer, Mr. Kattner was responsible for signing off on the Zurich-based nonprofit's largest payments, including eight-figure bonuses that went to Mr. Blatter, according to the contracts.
In total, the documents show nearly 80 million francs awarded in bonuses and salary to Messrs. Blatter, Valcke and Kattner between 2011 and 2015, all pushed through in contract amendments approved by them and Julio Grondona, an Argentine national and the former head of FIFA's finance committee, until he died in 2014. Mr. Grondona also received bonuses and other incentives, investigators said.
This is the first time a full picture of Mr. Blatter's alleged compensation has been publicly disclosed in his 40-year involvement with FIFA. Investigators say Mr. Blatter received 33.1 million francs, Mr. Valcke got 32.5 million francs, and Mr. Kattner received 13.4 million francs.
An attorney for Mr. Valcke didn't immediately return requests for comment. FIFA's former chief auditor Domenico Scala, who the investigators say was aware of some of the payments, declined to comment.
ENLARGE An attorney for Mr. Blatter said in a statement that his compensation was appropriate.
"We look forward to showing FIFA that Mr. Blatter's compensation payments were proper, fair and in line with the heads of major professional sports leagues around the world," Richard Cullen said.
In addition to the alleged bonuses and salaries, the contracts included a series of amendments that protected at least Mr. Kattner and Mr. Valcke with huge severance packages.
Investigators didn't connect the alleged bonuses to any legal wrongdoing, but said they would refer the case to FIFA's ethics committee. Some of the clauses related to severance payments may violate Swiss law, they said, but didn't elaborate.
Some of the contracts were discovered in a safe sitting in Mr. Kattner's office at FIFA headquarters, according to a person familiar with the investigation. He said the bonuses were concealed in FIFA's financial results as part of a gene ral bonus pool, without any details on who might be receiving them or the specific amounts.
Swiss and American law enforcement have been briefed on the latest findings, investigators said.
The Swiss attorney general said Friday his office had seized documents and electronic data during a search at FIFA the previous day, but wouldn't give any further information.
FIFA and Quinn Emanuel have maintained that the scandal-ridden organization[12] was victimized by leaders of national and continental soccer organizations or sports executives it couldn't control. But as the scandal ensnare some of the organization's top executives, i t could become harder for the international federation to maintain that legal position.
Quinn Emanuel said that it was disclosing the contracts to show its good faith in cooperating with authorities.
The compensation of FIFA's top officials had been closely guarded secrets at the organization until earlier this year, when it revealed that Mr. Blatter earned 3.6 million francs in salary for 2015. That didn't, however, include bonuses, which are usually tied for top people to World Cups.
Mr. Blatter had maintained that revealing compensation would violate customary Swiss business practices.
According to the contracts, Mr. Kattner was promised an arrangement that would see him paid by FIFA into 2023 regardless of his employment at the organization or any legal proceedings against him.
"FIFA agrees to hold harmless and indemnify the employee from and against any and all costs and losses incurred from civil or criminal proceedings against hi m for matters in connection with his employment with FIFA," the contract clause reads.
The amendment was signed last May, in the days after the U.S. Department of Justice disclosed a sweeping indictment of 14 soccer officials and executives on corruption and racketeering charges.
Mr. Kattner was removed from his job last month after an investigation revealed that he had paid himself millions of dollars in bonuses that had not been approved by FIFA's executive committee. Mr. Kattner has made no public statements on the allegations.
He had been serving as acting secretary-general since September, when Mr. Valcke was removed from his job[13] for allegedly conspiring to sell a personal cache of World Cup tickets on the black market. Mr. Valcke has consistently denied wrongdoing.
According to people with knowledge of FIFA procedures, Mr. Kattner was part of a small group of executives who could approve payments of more than $50,000. The group included Messrs. Valcke and Grondona.
In 2010, following the South Africa World Cup, Mr. Blatter allegedly received a bonus of 11 million francs, while Mr. Valcke is said to have collected 9 million francs, according to the documents. Mr. Kattner allegedly received 3 million francs.
A year later, the documents show, Messrs. Blatter and Valcke shared 22 million francs, in connection with the 2014 World Cup, more than two years before the tournament. And in June 2014, Mr. Valcke allegedly received a bonus for the 2018 World Cup in Russia of 11 million francs.
Messrs. Valcke and Grondona are central figures in the original indictment filed by U.S. investigat ors against soccer officials and executives last May. The indictment details an alleged plan by former FIFA executive committee members Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer to sell their support for South Africa's bid to host the World Cup for $10 million.
Write to Joshua Robinson at joshua.robinson@wsj.com[14] and Matthew Futterman at matthew.futterman@wsj.com[15]
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