Jan 31, 2018

DOJ investigating global sports organizations for corruption

Haley Britzky

Lee Hee-beom, President of the PyeongChang Organising Committee for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Photo: Milos Bicanski / Getty Images

Grand jury subpoenas have been issued in "a far-reaching investigation of international sports corruption," the New York Times reports.

Why it matters: The DOJ is investigating "possible racketeering, money laundering and honest services fraud charges," over track and field championships and "bids for various other elite competitions." They're seeking information from major sports organizations like the International Olympic Committee and FIFA.

  • Former president of the IAAF and member of the International Olympic Committee, Lamine Diack, was detained by France in 2015 and "accused of accepting bribes for covering up the doping violations of Russian athletes," per NYT.
  • Per the Times, Diack's arrest led Brazilian officials to arrest the head of Brazil's Olympic committee, Carlos Arthur Nuzman. There was reason to suspect that Rio de Janeiro's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics "was helped by bribery to secure supportive votes from members of the International Olympic Committee."
  • This comes days before the beginning of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, and in the middle of a huge scandal with former Olympic gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar.

Go deeper: Big tech is eyeing live sports broadcasts.

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U.S. coronavirus updates: Death toll surpasses 14,800

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

The novel coronavirus has now killed more than 2,000 people for the second day in a row, and it's infected more than 432,000 others, per Johns Hopkins data.

Where it stands: More than 14,800 people have died of COVID-19 in the U.S. — including over 4,500 in New York. The state's death toll surged to its highest one-day total on Wednesday — beating the previous day's record. 779 people died in New York in 24 hours. N.Y. has reported more cases than the most-affected countries in Europe.

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World coronavirus updates: U.K. PM "stable, improving" in intensive care

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is "stable, improving, sat up and engaged with medical staff" in the intensive care unit of London's St. Thomas' Hospital, where he is being treated for the coronavirus, Culture Minister Oliver Dowden told the BBC Thursday.

Zoom in: The update comes as ministers meet to discuss whether to extend the United Kingdom's lockdown and after the country's health officials reported Wednesday the highest daily rise in COVID-19 deaths — 938, taking the total to over 7,300. London Mayor said Wednesday the U.K. is "nowhere near lifting the lockdown," with the virus not expected to peak there until next week.

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Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 3 a.m. ET: 1,484,811 — Total deaths: 88,538 — Total recoveries: 329,876 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 3 a.m. ET: 432,132 — Total deaths: 14,817 — Total recoveries: 23,906 — Map.
  3. Federal government latest: Top Trump administration officials had been developing a plan to give cloth masks to huge numbers of Americans, but the idea lost traction amid heavy internal skepticism.
  4. States latest: New York has reported more cases than the most-affected countries in Europe. Chicago's Cook County jail is largest-known source of coronavirus in U.S.
  5. Business: One-third of U.S. jobs are at risk of disappearing, mostly affecting low-income workers.
  6. World: WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged countries to put politics aside "if you don’t want to have many more body bags.”
  7. Environment: COVID-19 is underscoring the connection between air pollution and dire outcomes from respiratory diseases.
  8. Tech: A new report recommends stimulus spending to help close the digital divide revealed by social distancing.
  9. What should I do? Pets, moving and personal health — Answers about the virus from Axios experts — What to know about social distancing — Q&A: Minimizing your coronavirus risk.
  10. Other resources: CDC on how to avoid the virus, what to do if you get it.

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