Gianni Infantino faces US tax complaint over alleged FIFA-funded domestic worker

FIFA president Gianni Infantino is facing a formal complaint to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over allegations that a domestic worker employed at his Miami home was paid through a FIFA-linked entity.

The complaint alleges that the worker from Nicaragua provided private household services exclusively to Infantino and his family, despite receiving her salary or benefits from an organisation connected to FIFA.

According to The Guardian, which has seen the complaint, immigration lawyer Abed Ayoub – a former executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee – accused FIFA’s senior leadership of misusing the organisation’s tax-exempt status to cover private domestic services for its president.

The complaint states that the employee “performed household work exclusively for Gianni Infantino and his wife Lina at their residence in Miami, while receiving compensation or benefits through a FIFA-related entity”.

It added that using the organisation’s resources for personal benefit raised “serious questions regarding private benefit rules, governance and financial disclosure”. If wrongdoing were established, FIFA could risk losing its tax-exempt status in the United States, the complaint said.

The allegations follow reports by the New York Post and The Telegraph on 3 November. They identified the worker as 33-year-old Yagarlin del Socorro Fernandez, who worked for Infantino’s family at a luxury apartment tower in Miami.

An internal document dated 7 January 2026 reportedly said Fernandez had worked full-time from 1 August 2024 until 31 October 2025.

She continued working after Donald Trump’s administration cancelled the humanitarian programme she had been using during 2025, leaving a period in which her legal status became irregular.

The reports also said Infantino asked Carlos Cordeiro, his US adviser and a prominent member of the White House task force for the 2026 World Cup, to help secure an exceptional C11 work permit for Fernandez. The permit was granted in January 2026.

FIFA rejects allegations

A FIFA spokesperson rejected the claims in full.

“Matters relating to the personal and domestic life of the FIFA president are private, but to dispel any doubt, the costs of any domestic employees are paid personally by the president,” the spokesperson said.

FIFA also denied claims that people had been employed without the necessary legal permits. The organisation accused certain parties of repeatedly attempting to destabilise FIFA and target its president.

Questions over airport assistance

Questions about the use of FIFA-related resources have also extended to special protocol services reportedly provided to members of Infantino’s family at Miami International Airport.

French newspaper L’Equipe said it had examined documents showing the family received assistance including expedited passage procedures and coordination with airlines and federal authorities. Such arrangements are usually reserved for official visits.

The documents recorded 73 occasions between January 2024 and October 2026, involving 125 individual instances of assistance.

Infantino was not accompanying his family on around half of those occasions. His wife Lina was listed 46 times, including 37 occasions when her husband was not present. His daughters each used the facilities about 20 times.

Infantino himself appeared in the records 24 times: 16 in 2024, seven in 2025 and once in 2026. There had been no new use by him since March.

A former FIFA official, who asked not to be named because of fears of retaliation, told L’Equipe that Infantino treated FIFA as if it were his own private organisation and repeatedly used its resources for personal purposes.