Defiant FIFA chief Blatter criticizes US justice chief Lynch, federal soccer corruption case

ZURICH – FIFA President Sepp Blatter has criticized U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and an American federal investigation into soccer corruption.

Blatter tells Swiss broadcaster RTS "there is something that smells" about the timing of dawn raids to arrest soccer officials in Zurich two days before his re-election Friday.

The defiant FIFA chief says Lynch's comments on the bribery and racketeering case "shocked" him.

Lynch said Wednesday that indicted FIFA and marketing officials had "corrupted the business of worldwide soccer to serve their interests and to enrich themselves."

Blatter says "as a president I would never make a statement about another organization without knowing."

Blatter suggests "if they have a financial crime that regards American citizens then they must arrest these people there and not in Zurich when we have a congress."