Corrupt soccer conglomerate FIFA has retained the consulting firm founded by former Clinton aide Doug Band after several FIFA officials were indicted as part of a U.S. Justice Department investigation, the BBC reports:
The BBC has learnt New York-based Teneo Holdings has been retained in the wake of the criminal investigation launched into football's world governing body by the US Department of Justice in May.
The company's president is Doug Band, who served as a director on the US 2022 World Cup bid committee.
Band, together with Fifa executive committee member Sunil Gulati and others, made the final World Cup bid presentation to high-ranking officials in Zurich in 2010. He served as a close adviser to President Bill Clinton during his years in the White House.
Band continued to work for Clinton after leaving the White House, and helped the former president found the Clinton Foundation, a controversial institution that, like FIFA, has faced allegations of corruption. Band founded Teneo Holdings in 2011, and the firm hired Bill Clinton as a paid consultant. Hillary Clinton minder Huma Abedin was granted special clearance from the State Department to do consulting work for Teneo while also serving as an aide to then-Secretary of State Clinton. The department's inspector general is currently investigating the arrangement, which was not properly disclosed.