"Sure, there's bribery, there are moral offenses," he added.
"I think a jury could conclude that there was bribery here," said Edward R. Korman, a federal judge in Brooklyn sitting by designation.
"You're working in areas where there's no infrastructure, there's no governance, there's bribery," Stefano Savi, who oversees global outreach for R.S.P.O., told me a few months ago.
And even if there was bribery going on [at Fifa], why would the Americans only bring it up now, just after Fifa refused the demands of [US] senators to revoke Russia's right to host the champions?" Why indeed?
"If the government gets a Suspicious Activity Report about a high-ranking public official, they would be negligent not to pursue it, if only to determine whether there was bribery or extortion involved," said Robert D. Luskin, a defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor.
One is the reaction of the FBI to the increasing likelihood that there will be bribery or corruption charges against News International employees: the last thing News Corp directors will want is to have to defend the board and company against inquiries under the US Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act.
He said there had been "bribery" through "unlawfully diverting public funds to organisations in order corruptly to procure their political support".
But a Chinese company that says it got pushed out of the deal has a different version: executives there say it was bribery, a case of an American company secretly funneling money to powerful Chinese government officials to ensure the lucrative banking contract.
And the bill also aims to strengthen the authority of indirectly elected council leaders, by having them serve four-year rather than one-year terms.If all else fails, there is always bribery.
