Former MI6 spy in hiding 'from the Russians' over Trump dirty dossier made £1million in two years while working undercover supplying FBI with information as he cracked open corruption in FIFA 

  • Christopher Steele's British-based company uncovered corruption at FIFA
  • Company accounts reveal it recorded a profit of more than £1million between 2015 and 2016
  • Revelations uncovered by Steele's firm Orbis Business Intelligence led to the resignation of FIFA president Sepp Blatter
  • This work gave credence to his reporting on Trump's entanglements in Russia 

By Martin Robinson and Sam Greenhill for MailOnline

Published: 14:07 EST, 12 January 2017 | Updated: 07:27 EST, 13 January 2017

The spy at the centre of the Trump 'dirty dossier' controversy made more than £1million in two years by supplying information about FIFA to the FBI.

Christopher Steele's British-based company, Orbis Business Intelligence, uncovered corruption at international soccer's governing body, leading to the resignation of top officials, including president Sepp Blatter.

It was this work which gave credence to his reporting on Trump's entanglements in Russia, officials in the US have said.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter resigned in 2015 after revelations about corruption in the soccer governing body, uncovered by Christopher Steele's British-based company, Orbis Business Intelligence

Cash rich: Christopher Steele, 52, runs Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd with fellow ex-MI6 operative Christopher Burrows, which made £401,000 profit in 2015 and £621,000 profit in 2016, according to company accounts (pictured)

He was subsequently employed by enemies of the President Elect to dig for 'dirt' in Russia.

Emails seen by Reuters indicate that, in the summer of 2010, members of a New York-based FBI squad assigned to investigate 'Eurasian Organized Crime' met with Steele in London.

Here they discussed allegations of possible corruption in FIFA, the Swiss-based body that also organizes the World Cup tournament.

Christopher Steele was subsequently employed by enemies of the President Elect to dig for 'dirt' in Russia

People familiar with Steele's activities said his British-based company, Orbis Business Intelligence, was hired by the Football Association, Britain's domestic soccer governing body, to investigate FIFA. 

British corporate records show that Orbis was formed in March 2009.

Steele runs the company alongside fellow MI6 operative Christopher Burrows, and the firm made £401,000 profit in 2015 and £621,000 profit in 2016, according to company accounts. 

At the time it was hired, the British Football Association was hoping to host the 2018 or 2022 World Cups.

Christopher Steele runs the company along with Christopher Burrows (pictured)

Amid a swirl of corruption allegations, the 2018 World Cup was awarded to Moscow, and Qatar was chosen to host the 2022 competition.

The FBI squad whose members met Steele subsequently opened a major investigation into alleged soccer corruption that led to dozens of US indictments, including those of prominent international soccer officials.

Senior FIFA officials, including long-time president Sepp Blatter, were forced to resign.

The business thrived as Steele fed the FBI with paid-for information on corruption at FIFA, football’s governing body.

US officials even met with him at his company's headquarters in Belgravia shortly before senior football officials were arrested over 'rampant and systemic' corruption.

Steele's firm was allegedly recruited sometime in 2015 or 2016 to help Mr Trump’s Republican rivals investigate his links with Russia.

It came amid a bitter fight among Republican rivals to be named as the party's candidate to run for President.

According to the BBC's Washington correspondent Paul Wood, writing in The Spectator, a Washington research firm working for a so-called superPAC - a political action committee - had commissioned the report during the Republican primaries.  

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