Loretta Lynch anticipates further arrests in FIFA investigation

FIFA is facing fresh turmoil after US attorney general Loretta Lynch warned new arrests and charges are likely as a result of the FBI investigations into football-related corruption.

Lynch, speaking in Zurich, said new charges and arrests against "individuals and entities" were anticipated.

Meanwhile, the Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber confirmed that an investigation is taking place into FIFA's sale of World Cup TV rights - signed off by Sepp Blatter - to disgraced former official Jack Warner for a fraction of their true worth.

Lauber also revealed that assets including flats in the Swiss Alps had been seized by his investigators, on suspicion of being used for money-laundering purposes, and that 121 different bank accounts have been brought to the attention of the investigating task force.

In May, the US justice department announced indictments against 18 people on football-related corruption charges.

Lynch told a news conference: "Separate and apart from the pending indictment our investigation has expanded since May. The scope of our investigation is not limited and is following the evidence where it leads.

"We do anticipate pursuing additional changes against individuals and entities."

The Swiss and US investigations remain separate, and Lauber's disclosure that Swiss authorities are looking into the TV rights contract will set alarm bells ringing in FIFA.

In 2005, Blatter signed a contract selling the Caribbean rights for South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014 to the Warner-controlled Caribbean Football Union (CFU) for 600,000 US dollars (£389,000) - about three per cent of the sum that Warner sold them on for.

Warner, at that time CFU's president, sub-licensed the rights to his own Cayman Islands-registered company J & D International (JDI). In 2007, JDI sold on the rights to Jamaica-based cable TV station SportsMax for a value the broadcaster reported on its own website at the time as being between 18million and 20million US dollars.

Lauber disclosed that FIFA has already sent prosecutors its explanation for the contract.

He said: "We analyse all facts including this explanation of FIFA we received on Sunday evening. We have a lot of facts out of house searches and documents we seized. This specific case we received on Sunday and it will be analysed by us to see is this is really valuable or not."