Corrupt FIFA Executive Chuck Blazer Was In It for the American Express Points

American soccer official Chuck Blazer, whose cooperating testimony led to the arrest of soccer governing body FIFA executives this week, was in part after the Membership Rewards points.

From 2004 to 2011, more than $26 million of Concacaf expenses were charged to Blazer’s personal American Express account, resulting in a commingling of personal and business charges, the report said. This was done, the report said, perhaps because “Blazer had easier access to credit than did Concacaf” or because of “Blazer’s desire to accumulate American Express membership reward points.”

He was also, apparently, a travel blogger. He can be seen partying onboard a private jet with Nelson Mandela, hanging out with more than one Miss Universe and meeting Vladimir Putin, and there’s even a gratuitous shot of a bucket of champagne. He lives a more exciting life than I do (it turns out, though, Justin Ross Lee-style). He just didn’t post enough.

(HT: George S.)

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. I used to work with POP (point of purchase merchandising collateral) for a very large fast food chain. We had long had a system to bill franchisees for their POP, but a number of them were bad at paying on time, so we moved over to a credit card based system.

    Almost every single franchisee used their personal cards attached to mileage or points programs. We’re not talking about about guys running single restaurants either. We’re talking guys with between 15 and 300 restaurants charging about $3500/yr, per store. That’s almost a million dollars a year in spend for some of these guys.

    One of the few times I ever wished I was a franchisee and not on the corporate side.

  2. What is ironic is that his own blog is displaying news related to the Fifa scandal and his involvement therein (on the left “Soccer Stories in the News”).

  3. He put it all on his personal card? And missed out on a nice signup bonus on a business plat or BRG. /sarcasm

  4. When this story broke, most Americans probably didn’t have a clue about FIFA. We ain’t known for sitting in bars adn watching soccer matches.

  5. “When this story broke, most Americans probably didn’t have a clue about FIFA. We ain’t known for sitting in bars adn watching soccer matches.”

    …at least not when rodeo is on…

  6. he looks like quite the athlete. what a fitness nut. well, nobody can argue with his need for points to fly first class…

  7. Thanks Gary, always something very interesting in your blog posts. 26 million points huh? A piker, the top guy in that program is well over 120 million.

    Anyway, please don’t suggest that Chuck’s blog would be a nice add to BoardingArea!

  8. Probably should have been using SPG (and Sapphire for the travel-related).

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