Death threats, only ? According to this report here, this death due to murder, of an important Televisa high CEO, happened as some sort of adjustment of accounts between parts, only after Televisa appeared mentioned by Bursaco in the NY corruption trials going on. http://www.insideworldfootball.com/...-killing-televisas-espinosa-shot-mexico-city/ If so, this crap is simply escalating, and no one really knows to which point it may reach
And the beat goes on...from Sports Illustrated: [ex Full Pay exec Santiago] Pena testified that he took the ledger from Full Play's office on a thumb drive along with a stack of documents shortly after the first indictments were unsealed in May 2015 and kept the evidence at his home for two years before turning it over the American prosecutors. ... Rafael Esquivel, the former president of Venezuelan soccer, was nicknamed ''Benz'' and his ledger listed a $750,000 payment owed for ''Q2022.'' He pleaded guilty in November 2016 to racketeering conspiracy, three counts of wire fraud conspiracy and three counts of money laundering conspiracy. Luis Chiriboga, the former president of Ecuadorean soccer, was nicknamed ''Toyota'' and his ledger listed a $500,000 payment owed for ''Q2022.'' He was convicted in his own country in November 2016 of money laundering. Interesting that neither Esquivel nor Chiriboga were voters for the placement of the World Cup in Qatar 2022...but the terminology "Q2022" is certainly interesting. Pena having the thumb drive and all the documents means that the government has everything in writing in regards to Full Plays' bribery payments.
From yesterday at the trial: Bedoya characterized the introduction as short but added that after the Qatari official left the conversation Jinkis moved the discussion on to potential bribes. The marketing executive, who along with his father Hugo Jinkis has also been charged on multiple counts of corruption by US prosecutors but has so far avoided extradition to the US, suggested to the trio that Qatar’s bid for the tournament could be “important … for business”. He told the officials “he could ask for 10 or 15m [in bribes] and could divide it up between the group of six”. It should be noted that Bedoya later says that none of the officials took the matter any further and Napout said "This is too complicated, you shouldn't get into it." according to Bedoya. https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...olombias-football-federation-discussed-bribes
I stumbled upon the following today -- very good information on the AP site, the government site is a pretty static list of expected court dates. Mostly for sentencing people who have already plead guilty. Status of FIFA cases: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/file/799016/download More AP FIFA coverage: www.apnews.com/tag/FIFA In the most recent AP article it does say: "U.S. prosecutors allege that support of Qatar in exchange for bribes was part of a conspiracy, but not all of the more than three dozen people charged were involved in that scheme."
Now French authorities are in on the action: French police have questioned former FIFA vice president Reynald Temarii in their investigation of suspected corruption in the award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. .... The official said Temarii was taken into police custody on Tuesday evening and held for one day while he was questioned. That last sentence is interesting to me at least. They didn't interview him in his home or at his lawyer's office, but in police custody. The quote is from an AP article found at www.apnews.com/tag/FIFA
Found this entry interesting in the latest trial update: One star cooperating witness could yet take the stand: Traffic boss Jose ‘Jota’ Hawilla. He pleaded guilty in December 2014 to racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Hawilla agreed to forfeit $151 million and wore a wire to gather evidence against former colleagues. He must be the first person the FBI got to cooperate and since it was before the May, 2015 arrests in Switzerland, I would assume his cooperation led to a lot of those arrests. So....what will be aired at the trial from the wire he wore? Quote from: https://www.apnews.com/3fe1c6fdf687...k-of-FIFA-trial,-prosecutors-near-end-of-case
So the trial goes to the jury today for them to rule on the case. Will be interesting to see if that takes long to do or not. Another article though on Del Nero being suspended by Brazilian Football, and getting suspended (finally?!!!) from FIFA. https://www.apnews.com/c0a780db4177...razilian-soccer-president-Marco-Polo-del-Nero Some interesting (to me anyways) quotes: Infantino was photographed at last year’s Olympics receiving a Brazilian soccer shirt from Del Nero, and reporters questioned him about Del Nero at the World Cup draw earlier this month in Moscow. “So whatever comes out of these trials (in New York), we will deal with it,” Infantino said. “We have ethics committees, disciplinary committees. They will deal with these questions. It’s not for the FIFA president to deal with them. We have institutions for that.” Del Nero has been hunkered down in Brazil in part because Brazilian law does not ban private or commercial corruption. There needs to be a government body or official involved, or taxpayer money. So Infantino is taking the same tact that Blatter took -- "FIFA has committees in place, but I'm not responsible for anything. " It's like there is a total separation (in terms of accountability) between the President of FIFA and FIFA. Yet in every other way he is the face and voice of FIFA. He fires people on the ethics committees, etc, but has no accountability.
Not directly FIFA, but definitely related -- Villar threatening Spanish authorities that FIFA may deny Spain their WC berth because of the government's removal of him due to all the corruption charges against him. Since he hasn't been convicted, he maintains he should be given the presumption of innocence. While I get that, there are lots of people who are removed from their jobs during a trial against them. So, to me, that does not wash. FIFA is sending a 'delegation' to examine the situation, will be interesting to see what they say. Article here: https://www.apnews.com/bd0b3a743db4...lar-says-Spain-in-danger-of-missing-World-Cup
It wouldn't be the first time that FIFA has stepped in to defend one of their members that the country accused of corruption and removed. Obviously things have changed recently with all of the arrests, but there have been other governments that removed federation heads due to corruption charges and FIFA stepped in and either banned, or threatened to ban, their national team until the head was put back into place.
Marin and Napout convicted of corruption. Jury remains undecided on Burga...he's not out of the woods, just they haven't come to a decision yet. The sentencing phase will be next (after the Burga decision by the jury.) https://www.apnews.com/ab3c889a1f71...s-convicted-at-FIFA-trial;-3rd-awaits-verdict
Burga acquitted: https://www.independent.ie/world-news/exfootball-official-cleared-of-corruption-charge-36437893.html I expect some of those who pleaded guilty are kicking themselves now.
I saw that in this mornings NY Times. Interesting that in the Times article, the prosecutors acknowledged that Burga had not collected the alleged bribes -- they said he knew he was being watched. That makes for a flimsier case by far than people who actually took the money. While others may be kicking themselves, they have to remember that the other 2 are in jail waiting to see how long they are going to remain there. NY Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/26/sports/manuel-burga-fifa-trial.html?_r=0
There have at last been some updates on that court page, and on January 12th they announced upcoming sentencing on 2nd February for Julio Rocha, ex-president of the Nicaraguan FA. He died on January 13th. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/sports/julio-rocha-fifa-dead.html
Though never arrested, Platini was banned. The sentence was reduced from 8 years to 4 years on appeal to FIFA Ethics Committee and CAS. However, he wants to be cleared totally so after losing his bid in front of the Swiss Supreme Court he is going to the European Court of Human Rights..... https://www.apnews.com/140c901a7160...i-appealing-to-European-Court-of-Human-Rights
Saw a number of articles on this topic this morning -- looks like the Justice Department is going after more -- both with FIFA AND other trans-national sports agencies. I know we've talked about who holds these organizations accountable. Looks like the US Justice department is keeping track of the money and what is legal. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/sports/fifa-ioc-usoc-iaaf.html
Panamanian Company Pleads Guilty to Bribing Soccer Official Defendant Will Pay $500,000 in Restitution and a $900,000 Fine, then Shut Down https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/panamanian-company-pleads-guilty-bribing-soccer-official
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/04/...sident-david-chung-resigns.html?smid=tw-share FIFA Vice President Quits After Audit Raises Questions
FIFA Bans Brazilian Official Del Nero for Life for Bribery https://www.si.com/soccer/2018/04/2...m&utm_medium=social&xid=socialflow_twitter_si April 27, 2018 ZURICH (AP) Top Brazilian soccer official Marco Polo del Nero was banned for life for bribery and corruption by FIFA's ethics committee on Friday.
I've been keeping an eye on that DoJ page for the last year or so, and mostly all that seems to happen is postponement. But some dates are approaching that look like they might be close enough to actually happen (i.e. recent updates haven't moved them): JOSÉ MARIA MARIN Convicted at Trial on December 22, 2017 Sentencing on August 22, 2018 at 10:30 a.m. JUAN ÁNGEL NAPOUT Convicted at Trial on December 22, 2017 Sentencing on August 29, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. JEFFREY WEBB Pleaded Guilty on November 23, 2015 Sentencing on September 7, 2018 at 2:00 p.m.
Marin gets four years' prison: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45277581 From the court: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/p...nced-four-years-imprisonment-racketeering-and
Napout gets nine years' prison: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/p...and-paraguayan-soccer-official-sentenced-nine
The sentencing for Jeffrey Webb got deferred yet again, no idea why really. https://caymannewsservice.com/2018/08/webb-sentencing-deferred/ Next up at the moment are: EDUARDO LI Pleaded Guilty on October 7, 2016 Sentencing on September 24, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. BRAYAN JIMÉNEZ Pleaded Guilty on July 29, 2016 Sentencing on September 25, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.
Those ^ got deferred too, but we're due some action today: Rafael Salguero is set to be sentenced. It's being reported that the court documents show that he was bribed for his 2018 World Cup vote while he was a member of the FIFA executive committee. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/dec/04/rafael-salguero-bribe-claims-2018-world-cup
Salguero got let off with a sentence of "time served", presumably due to cooperation. https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/...-chief-salguero-avoids-jail-over-fifa-scandal Next up (again) today is Brayan Jimenez, also a head of the Guatemalan FA. (Salguero's predecessor maybe?)