{"product_id":"american-huckster-how-chuck-blazer-got-rich-from-and-sold-out-the-most-powerful-cabal-in-world-sports-9780062449696","title":"American Huckster: How Chuck Blazer Got Rich From-And Sold Out-The Most Powerful Cabal in World Sports","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe first inside account of the international soccer scandal that rocked the world and the American at its center--the incredible story of how a stay-at-home New York soccer dad illegally made millions off the world's most powerful and corrupt sports organization and became an unlikely FBI whistleblower.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe was the middle-class Jewish kid from Queens who rose from local youth soccer leagues to the heights of FIFA, becoming a larger-than-life, jet-setting buccaneer--and the most notorious FBI informant in sports history. For years, Chuck Blazer skimmed over $20 million from FIFA, stashing his money in offshore accounts and real estate holdings that included a luxury apartment in Trump Tower, a South Beach condo, and a hideaway in the Bahamas. Instantly recognizable with his unruly mass of salt-and-pepper hair and matching beard--and a rotating crop of arm candy--Blazer was one of the most flamboyant figures in the glitzy social and political circles of international soccer. Over the course of thirty years, Blazer leveraged his friendships with the likes of Vladimir Putin, Hillary Clinton and Nelson Mandela, to increase his influence with the mandarins of global soccer--most notably Sepp Blatter, FIFA's long-time godfather.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOnce Blatter tapped Blazer to be the first American in almost fifty years to sit on FIFA's executive committee, the erstwhile accountant steadily accumulated money and power--until 2013 when the FBI and IRS nabbed Blazer and charged him with fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion. In exchange for immunity, Blazer agreed to let the Feds install a microphone in his keychain to entrap his larcenous band of brothers--leading to the shocking arrest and indictment of eighteen FIFA officials for racketeering and bribery.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this taut and suspenseful tale of white-collar crime and betrayal at the highest levels of international business, investigative reporters Mary Papenfuss and Teri Thompson draw on sources in U.S. law enforcement as well as in Blazer's inner circle to tell the surreal tale of this astonishing character and the scandal that rocked the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePapenfuss, Mary:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eMary Papenfuss has worked as an editor at the \u003cem\u003eNew York Post\u003c\/em\u003e, the \u003cem\u003eNew York Daily News\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eAssociated Press\u003c\/em\u003e in San Francisco and Salon.com, and has written for People magazine in Paris, Ozy, the International Business Times, and Reuters. She's the author of \u003cem\u003eClimb Against the Odds: Celebrating Survival on the Mountain, and Killer Dads: The Twisted Motives that Compel Fathers to Murder their Own Kids\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThompson, Teri:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003eTeri Thompson is a former top editor at the New York \u003cem\u003eDaily News, \u003c\/em\u003ewhere she created the newspaper's award-winning sports investigative team that broke the Chuck Blazer story in 2014. Before coming to the \u003cem\u003eNews\u003c\/em\u003e, she was a sports olumnist at the \u003cem\u003eRocky Mountain News \u003c\/em\u003eand an editor at ESPN. She has co-authored two books, including the critically acclaimed \"\u003cem\u003eAmerican Icon: The Fall of Rogers Clemens \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003ethe Rise of Steroids in America\u003c\/em\u003e\" and is also a member of the Connecticut bar.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harper Paperbacks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50317981417746,"sku":"9780062449696","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_9ccbcc5f-c27c-4e06-a6f7-617ac4cf16e3.jpg?v=1727544561","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/american-huckster-how-chuck-blazer-got-rich-from-and-sold-out-the-most-powerful-cabal-in-world-sports-9780062449696","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}