Several offices associated with the 2024 Paris Olympics were raided Tuesday as part of a corruption probe by French police.
The main organizing committee office and several related companies and consultants were searched by investigators in a coordinated effort across Paris and its suburbs.
French authorities have launched two separate corruption investigations into the upcoming Games, which open in July 2024.
The first probe began in 2017, the same year Paris was awarded the 2024 Olympics. Authorities are looking into allegations of favoritism and the misuse of public money.
A second investigation started in 2022, as cops heard about conflicts of interest and more favoritism between the Paris organizing committee and Solideo, the public agency in charge of Olympic infrastructure.
The agency is in charge of constructing and designing more than 60 projects, including the Olympic village.
Corruption reports surrounding global sporting events are nothing new. A Tokyo 2020 organizer pleaded guilty to bribery earlier this year, just one of several scandals surrounding the most recent summer Olympics. The leader of Rio de Janeiro’s 2016 organizing committee also served jail time for corruption.
Both the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids were tainted by claims that FIFA officials were paid off to put the tournaments in Russia and Qatar, respectively.
French organizers said they were cooperating fully with the latest graft probe. The IOC said it had spoken with committee leaders and confirmed their cooperation.
Anti-Olympic groups, led by France’s own Saccage 2024, said Tuesday’s raids came as no surprise.
“For us, an event of Olympic proportions cannot be held without corruption,” the group said in a statement. “It’s the size of the event that makes it necessary, whatever the country.”
French sports have been roiled by various scandals and resignations in 2023. Olympic Committee President Brigitte Henriques resigned last month in a surprising move thought to be caused by intense infighting.
French soccer federation president Noël Le Graët resigned after a government investigation revealed his mistreatment of women. And the nation’s rugby leader stepped down in January after he was convicted of corruption in a separate case.