Ex-Barcelona president arrested in money-laundering investigation

Sandro Rosell, who served as Barcelona president between 2010 and 2014, and his wife have been arrested in raids of nine offices and homes in northeastern Catalonia relating to a money-laundering investigation.

The arrests are part of a probe into "money laundering in companies linked to the image rights of the Brazilian football team," police sources told AS. Former president of the Brazilian Football Federation, Ricardo Teixeira, and former directors of the country's football administration are also implicated, according to Marca.

It's believed Rosell's company, Ailanto Marketing, exploited the sports rights of the Brazilian national team for a long time, charging irregular commissions for friendly matches. The payments were allegedly later "washed" through fictitious companies in tax havens.

Spanish newspaper El Confidencial states that additional homes and offices of people linked to the company in Girona and Lleida in Catalonia, and Andorra were raided. The publication also understands the arrests are part of a joint operation between Spanish police and the FBI, and relate to a U.S. investigation into corruption in football's world governing body, FIFA.

Rosell resigned from his old post in Catalonia when a Spanish court opened an investigation into tax fraud and corruption around the transfer of Neymar from Brazilian giant Santos in 2013.