Switzerland's attorney general has revealed that investigators have uncovered 53 possible cases of money-laundering during the investigation into FIFA's 2018 and 2022 World Cup-bidding contests, the AP reported.
Michael Lauber spoke to the media Wednesday for the first time since the investigation into FIFA was launched three weeks ago. He said that information regarding the possible money-laundering incidents was reported by Swiss banks.
"We note positively that banks in Switzerland did fulfill their duties to file suspicious activity reports," Lauber said at a press conference. "Partly in addition to 104 banking relations already known to the authorities, banks announced 53 suspicious banking relations via the anti-money-laundering framework of Switzerland."
The Swiss investigation is separate from the U.S. investigation, but the two are running side by side. Lauber said his office was analyzing nine terabytes of data and that the investigation would take time, the BBC reported.
"The world of football needs to be patient," he said. "By its nature, this investigation will take more than the legendary 90 minutes."
Also Wednesday, Swiss bank Julius Baer announced it had opened its own internal investigation. The bank, which is the third largest in Switzerland, was one of the banks named in the U.S. Department of Justice's indictment, Reuters reported.
The world soccer governing body's world was rocked on May 27 when U.S. and Swiss authorities raided both a Zurich hotel — where they rounded up and arrested seven FIFA bigwigs — and the organization's headquarters just days ahead of its presidential election.
In total, the U.S. indicted 14 people on corruption charges and unsealed information on four other individuals who had previously pleaded guilty to charges.