A private investigation has uncovered evidence that FIFA president Gianni Infantino and his wife, Leena, arranged for a live-in housekeeper at their United States home in Miami to be employed through a FIFA-linked company.
This is even as she did no work for FIFA and lacked valid US work authorisation.
The claims are set out in an anonymous memo and a series of messages, shared with Nigeria Info alongside photographs of employment and immigration documents.
Nigeria Info has not independently verified the allegations.
According to the memo, Leena Infantino arranged the hiring through a friend before May 2024, knowing the woman’s immigration status.
The woman had entered the US in late 2023 under what the memo calls a refugee programme, but had not applied for a work permit.
The memo says she lived at the Infantino residence and her only duties were domestic.
It says a meeting at the home in early 2024 discussed regularising her status, and an immigration law firm was brought in.
A work authorisation was approved on May 3, 2024, valid for two years and a FIFA staff member’s address, rather than the Infantino home where she lived, was listed in the paperwork, according to the memo.
From July 15, 2024, the memo says, she was on the payroll of a FIFA-affiliated entity.
It claims her contract was due to end in August 2025 but that Mr. Infantino kept asking for extensions.
It says she was formally let go in October 2025 and paid three months’ salary as a bonus, while continuing to live and work at the home.
United States President Donald Trump cancelled the refugee programme on January 20, 2025, making the housekeeper technically “illegal” from that date, though this was reportedly not being enforced.
According to the investigation, she worked without authorisation for about a year.
They also claim new applications under the programme stopped being accepted in spring 2025, so her January 2026 work card was “done as a favor.”
In January 2026, the memo alleges, Mr Infantino asked a contact with the US State Department connections to help secure a new work authorisation, and a FIFA staff member accompanied the live-in housekeeper to the department.
She was then rehired by FIFA’s Americas workforce arm on a contract worth $40,400 a year, with medical and retirement benefits, running to August 31, 2026.
The memo claims FIFA influenced administration officials to fast-track the process. Her current whereabouts are unclear.
The materials released by the investigation include a letter on FIFA letterhead, dated January 7, 2026, from its Miami office, confirming she was employed full-time by FIFA (Americas), Inc. from August 1, 2024 to October 31, 2025.
They also include a US employment authorisation card valid from January 20, 2026 to January 14, 2027, a US travel record showing entry in
December 2023 and permission to stay until June 12, 2025, and a copy of her passport.
All are phone photographs, and Nigeria Info has yet to verify their authenticity.
If proven, the Infantinos could be liable for violations of US federal tax, nonprofit-governance, fraud, and immigration law.
These include unreported taxable benefits, misuse of tax-exempt funds, and knowingly employing someone not authorised to work.
Abed Ayoub, an immigration and civil rights attorney who said he reviewed the information, called it “very concerning and out of the ordinary” and said the actions “raise serious concerns about an abuse of power and misuse of resources.”
He called for an immediate investigation by US state and federal authorities.
A quote says, “At this point it’s hard to see the difference between Infantino and Blatter.”
FIFA did not immediately respond to Nigeria Info's email request for comment.
Mr. Infantino has led FIFA since 2016.
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