Remarks by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Wednesday, as well as indictments released by the Justice Department the same day, indicate that the iconic American corporation has been pulled into the massive global corruption scandal. Detailing the long history of bribery by some of the world’s soccer governing bodies, Lynch said those offenses also extended to “agreements regarding sponsorship of the Brazilian national soccer team by a major U.S. sportswear company.”

Her remarks referred to the landmark ten-year, $160 million deal that Nike struck in 1996 to sponsor the Brazil national team’s well-known yellow, blue and green uniforms. Last year, Jose Hawilla, the owner and founder of the Florida- and Brazil-based sports marketing firm the Traffic Group, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud for, among other things, accepting and passing along bribes and kickbacks in connection with that deal. Hawilla paid these bribes and kickbacks to a senior official in the Brazilian Football federation (CBF), who signed the deal along with Hawilla and four Nike executives.

Want the drop? Got the drop at the Huffington Post . . .