ATTORNEY
GENERAL LYNCH ANNOUNCES 16 ADDITIONAL FIFA OFFICIALS INDICTED FOR RACKETEERING
CONSPIRACY & CORRUPTION
December 3, 2015
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
“The message from this announcement should be
clear to every culpable individual who remains in the shadows, hoping to evade
our investigation: You will not wait us out. You will not escape our focus.”
Attorney General LORETTA E. LYNCH
03dec2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/sixteen-additional-fifa-officials-indicted-racketeering-conspiracy-and-corruption
Thursday,
December 3, 2015
Sixteen Additional
FIFA Officials Indicted
for Racketeering Conspiracy and Corruption
[a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves
through the corruption of international soccer].
1.
The New Defendants Include Five Current or
Former FIFA Executive Committee Members and the Current Presidents of CONCACAF
and CONMEBOL; Guilty Pleas for Eight Others, Including JEFFREY WEBB and the Former Presidents of the Colombian and Chilean
Soccer Federations, also Announced
2.
A 92-count superseding indictment
was unsealed earlier today in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charging an
additional 16 defendants with
racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies, among other
offenses, in connection with their participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer.
3. The superseding indictment also includes additional
charges for seven of the defendants still pending extradition following the
return of the original indictment last May.
4. The guilty pleas of eight defendants – including
Jeffrey Webb, ALEJANDRO BURZACO and JOSÉ MARGULIES, three of the defendants
indicted last May – were also announced today.
5.
The new defendants
charged in the superseding indictment include high-ranking officials of FIFA,
the organization responsible for the regulation and promotion of soccer
worldwide, as well as high-ranking officials of other soccer governing bodies
that operate under the FIFA umbrella.
6. The defendants ALFREDO
HAWIT and JUAN ÁNGEL NAPOUT –
the current presidents of CONCACAF and CONMEBOL, respectively, as well as
current FIFA vice presidents and Executive Committee members – are among the 16
additional soccer officials charged with racketeering and bribery
offenses. CONCACAF and CONMEBOL are two of FIFA’s six continental
confederations.
7. The new defendants also include MARCO POLO DEL NERO and RICARDO
TEIXEIRA, the current and former presidents of the Brazilian soccer
federation, both of whom are also former members of the FIFA Executive
Committee, as well as JOSÉ LUÍS MEISZNER
and EDUARDO DELUCA, the current and
former general secretaries of CONMEBOL.
8. Within UNCAF, the Central American regional soccer
union operating within CONCACAF, the charges in the superseding indictment name
the current and/or former presidents of nearly every country in the region:
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
9. Taken together, the 27 defendants in the superseding indictment are alleged to have
engaged in a number of schemes all designed to solicit and receive well over $200 million in bribes and kickbacks
to sell lucrative media and marketing rights to international soccer
tournaments and matches, among other valuable rights and properties.
10.
THE CHARGES WERE ANNOUNCED BY:
Ø Attorney General LORETTA
E. LYNCH,
Ø FBI Director JAMES
B. COMEY,
Ø U.S. Attorney ROBERT
L. CAPERS of the Eastern District of New York,
Ø Assistant Director in Charge DIEGO G. RODRIGUEZ of the FBI’s New York Field Office,
Ø Chief RICHARD
WEBER of Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and
Ø Special Agent in Charge ERICK MARTINEZ of the IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office.
11. Early this morning [03dec2015], Swiss authorities in
Zurich arrested two of the defendants charged in the superseding indictment – HAWIT and NAPOUT – at the request of the United States.
12. Also this morning, a search warrant was executed at MEDIA WORLD, a sports marketing company
based in Miami.
13. The new charges unsealed today bring the total number
of individuals and entities charged to date to 41. Of those, 12
individuals and two sports marketing companies have already been convicted as a
result of the ongoing investigation.
14.
The convicted defendants have agreed to pay more than
$190 million in forfeiture. In addition, more than
$100 million has been restrained in the United States and abroad in connection
with the alleged criminal activity. The United States has issued mutual
legal assistance requests seeking the restraint of assets located in 13 countries around the world.
15. “The Department of Justice is committed to ending the
rampant corruption we have alleged amidst the leadership of international
soccer – not only because of the scale of the schemes, or the brazenness and
breadth of the operation required to sustain such corruption, but also because
of the affront to international principles that this behavior represents,” said
Attorney General Lynch.
“The message from this announcement should be clear to every culpable individual who remains in the shadows, hoping to evade our investigation: You will not wait us out. You will not escape our focus.”
“The message from this announcement should be clear to every culpable individual who remains in the shadows, hoping to evade our investigation: You will not wait us out. You will not escape our focus.”
16. Attorney General Lynch extended her grateful
appreciation to the authorities of the government of Switzerland for their
continuing outstanding assistance and collaboration in this investigation, and
to the authorities in a number of other countries, including Brazil and
Colombia, for their assistance as well.
17. “For decades, these defendants used their power as the
leaders of soccer federations throughout the world to create a web of
corruption and greed that compromises the integrity of the beautiful game,”
said Director Comey. “I want to thank all the agencies for their hard
work and for showing the world that we do not tolerate this criminal activity.”
18. “The charges unsealed today send a clear message to
those who corrupted a sport beloved by millions to satisfy their own greed: We
are determined to put a stop to bribery and corruption in international soccer
and to make room for a new era of integrity and reform,” said U.S. Attorney
Capers. “This indictment is the latest step in that effort, but our work
is not done. While our investigation continues at home, we also look
forward to continuing our collaboration with our international partners,
including in particular the Swiss authorities, because there is so much yet to be
done.” Mr. Capers extended his thanks to the agents, analysts and other
investigative personnel with the FBI New York Eurasian Joint Organized Crime
Squad and the IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office, as well as their colleagues in
the United States and abroad, for their continuing tremendous effort in this
case. Mr. Capers also thanked the U.S. Marshals Service for its
continuing assistance.
19. “The brazenness with which the individuals indicted
today breached the integrity of the U.S. financial system to promote and
conceal their criminal schemes is quite alarming,” said Chief Weber.
“While it is one of the most complex worldwide financial investigations ever
conducted, it is also an eye opener to everyone that such greed and corruption
could be hiding in plain sight within the world’s most popular sport. By
conspiring to enrich themselves through bribery and kickback schemes relating
to media and marketing rights, the defendants undermined the process of fair
and open competition, corrupting the beautiful game for their own personal
gain.”
20. The charges in the superseding indictment are merely
allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven
guilty.
21. OVERVIEW OF THE SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT
22. As alleged in the superseding indictment, FIFA and its
six continental confederations – including CONCACAF, headquartered in the
United States, and CONMEBOL, the confederation headquartered in South America –
together with affiliated regional federations, national member associations and
sports marketing companies, constitute an enterprise of legal entities
associated in fact for purposes of violating the federal racketeering
laws. The principal – and entirely legitimate – purpose of the enterprise
is to regulate and promote the sport of soccer worldwide.
23. Like the original indictment, the superseding
indictment alleges that between 1991 and the present, the defendants and their
co-conspirators corrupted the enterprise by engaging in various criminal
activities, including fraud, bribery and money laundering. Two
generations of soccer officials abused their positions of trust for personal
gain, frequently through an alliance with unscrupulous sports marketing
executives who shut out competitors and kept highly lucrative contracts for
themselves through the systematic payment of bribes and kickbacks. All
told, the soccer officials are charged with conspiring to solicit and receive
more than $200 million in bribes and kickbacks in exchange for their official
support of the sports marketing executives who agreed to make the unlawful
payments.
24. The schemes alleged in the original indictment related
to the solicitation and receipt of bribes and kickbacks by soccer officials
from sports marketing executives in connection with the commercialization of
the media and marketing rights associated with various soccer matches and
tournaments, as well as schemes related to the payment and receipt of bribes
and kickbacks in connection with the sponsorship of the Brazilian soccer
federation by a major U.S. sportswear company, the selection of the host country
for the 2010 World Cup and the 2011 FIFA presidential election.
25. The new allegations in the superseding indictment
relate to a series of bribery schemes in connection with multiple cycles of
FIFA World Cup qualifiers and international friendly matches involving six
Central American member associations within UNCAF; a bribery scheme implicating
many top CONMEBOL officials relating to the sale of broadcasting rights to the
CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores over an extended period; and a scheme by an
Argentinian sports marketing company to obtain various rights properties from
CONCACAF by paying bribes to three Central American soccer officials to cause
them to exert their influence in favor of the company.
26. THE 16 NEW DEFENDANTS
27. As set forth in the superseding indictment, the 16
newly-indicted defendants are all current or former soccer officials who acted
at various times in a fiduciary capacity within FIFA and one or more of its
constituent organizations:
CONCACAF Region
Officials
- Alfredo Hawit:
Current FIFA vice president and Executive Committee member and CONCACAF
president. Former
CONCACAF vice president and Honduran soccer federation president.
- Ariel Alvarado:
Current member of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee. Former CONCACAF
Executive Committee member and Panamanian soccer federation president.
- Rafael Callejas:
Current member of the FIFA Television and Marketing Committee.
Former Honduran soccer federation president and former president of the
Republic of Honduras.
- Brayan Jiménez:
Current Guatemalan soccer federation president and member of the FIFA
Committee for Fair Play and Social Responsibility.
- Rafael Salguero:
Former FIFA Executive Committee member and Guatemalan soccer federation
president.
- Héctor Trujillo:
Current Guatemalan soccer federation general secretary and judge on the
Constitutional Court of Guatemala.
- Reynaldo Vasquez: Former Salvadoran soccer
federation president.
CONMEBOL Region Officials
- Juan Ángel Napout:
Current FIFA vice president and Executive Committee member and CONMEBOL
president. Former
Paraguayan soccer federation president.
- Manuel Burga:
Current member of the FIFA Development Committee. Former Peruvian soccer
federation president.
- Carlos Chávez:
Current CONMEBOL treasurer. Former Bolivian soccer federation
president.
- Luís Chiriboga:
Current Ecuadorian soccer federation president and member of the CONMEBOL
Executive Committee.
- MARCO POLO DEL NERO: Current
president of the Brazilian soccer federation. Announced resignation
from FIFA Executive Committee on Nov. 26, 2015.
- Eduardo Deluca: Former CONMEBOL general
secretary.
- José Luis Meiszner: Current CONMEBOL general
secretary.
- Romer Osuna:
Current member of the FIFA Audit and Compliance Committee. Former CONMEBOL treasurer.
- RICARDO TEIXEIRA: Former
Brazilian soccer federation president and FIFA Executive Committee member.
28. THE CONVICTED DEFENDANTS
29. The following defendants previously pleaded guilty
under seal and agreed to forfeit more than $40 million:
30. On May 26, 2015, ZORANA
DANIS, the co-founder and owner of International
Soccer Marketing Inc., a New Jersey-based sports marketing company, waived
indictment and pleaded guilty to a two-count information charging her with wire
fraud conspiracy and filing false tax returns. As part of her plea, Danis agreed to forfeit
$2 million.
31. On Nov. 9, 2015, FABIO
TORDIN, the former CEO of Traffic
Sports USA Inc. and currently an executive with Media World LLC, a Miami-based sports marketing company, waived
indictment and pleaded guilty to a four-count information charging him with
three counts of wire fraud conspiracy and one count of tax evasion. As part of
his plea, Tordin agreed to forfeit more than $600,000.
32. On Nov. 12, 2015, LUIS
BEDOYA, a member of the FIFA Executive Committee, a CONMEBOL vice president
and, until last month, the president of the Federación Colombiana de Fútbol,
the Colombian soccer federation, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a
two-count information charging him with racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud
conspiracy. As part of his plea, BEDOYA
agreed to forfeit all funds on deposit in his Swiss bank account, among other
funds.
33. On Nov. 16, 2015, ALEJANDRO
BURZACO, the former general manager and chairman of the board of Torneos y Competencias S.A., an
Argentinian sports marketing company, pleaded guilty to racketeering
conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. As
part of his plea, BURZACO agreed to
forfeit more than $21.6 million.
34. On Nov. 17, 2015, ROGER
HUGUET, the CEO of Media World and
its parent company, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a three-count
information charging him with two counts of wire fraud conspiracy and one count
of money laundering conspiracy. As part of his plea, HUGUET agreed to forfeit more than $600,000.
35. On Nov. 23, 2015, JEFFREY
WEBB, a former FIFA vice president and Executive Committee member, CONCACAF
president, Caribbean Football Union Executive Committee member and Cayman
Islands Football Association president, pleaded guilty to racketeering
conspiracy, three counts of wire fraud conspiracy and three counts of money
laundering conspiracy. As part of his plea, WEBB agreed to forfeit more than $6.7 million.
36. On Nov. 23, 2015, SERGIO
JADUE, a vice president of CONMEBOL and, until last month, the president of
the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Chile, the Chilean soccer
federation, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a two-count information
charging him with racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy. As
part of his plea, JADUE agreed to
forfeit all funds on deposit in his U.S. bank account, among other funds.
37. On Nov. 25, 2015, JOSÉ
MARGULIES, the controlling principal of Valente Corp. and Somerton
Ltd, who served as an intermediary who facilitated illicit payments between
sports marketing executives and soccer officials, pleaded guilty to
racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and two counts of money
laundering conspiracy. As part of his plea, MARGULIES agreed to forfeit more than $9.2 million.
38. As previously announced last May, all money forfeited
by the defendants is being held in reserve to ensure its availability to
satisfy any order of restitution entered at sentencing for the benefit of any
individuals or entities that qualify as victims of the defendants’ crimes under
federal law.
39. The indicted and convicted defendants face maximum
terms of incarceration of 20 years
for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) conspiracy,
wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money
laundering and obstruction of justice charges.
40. In addition, TORDIN
and DANIS face maximum terms of five
and three years in prison, respectively, for the tax charges. Each defendant
also faces mandatory restitution, forfeiture and a fine.
41. The superseding indictment and guilty pleas unsealed
today are assigned to the U.S. District
Judge RAYMOND J. DEARIE of the Eastern District of New York.
42.
THE GOVERNMENT’S INVESTIGATION IS ONGOING.
43. The charges and guilty pleas announced today are part
of an investigation into corruption in international soccer being led by the
U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York, the FBI’s New York
Field Office and the IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office.
44. The work in the U.S. Attorney’s Office involves
prosecutors from the National Security and Cybercrime Section, the Organized
Crime and Gang Section, the Business and Securities Fraud Section and the
Public Integrity Section.
45. The prosecutors in Brooklyn are receiving considerable
assistance from attorneys in various parts of the Justice Department’s Criminal
Division in Washington, D.C., including the Office of International Affairs,
the Organized Crime and Gang Section, the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering
Section and the Fraud Section, as well as from INTERPOL Washington.
46. The charges and guilty pleas announced today are being
prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys EVAN
M. NORRIS, AMANDA HECTOR, DARREN A.
LAVERNE, SAMUEL P. NITZE, M. KRISTIN MACE, PAUL TUCHMANN, KEITH D. EDELMAN,
TANYA HAJJAR and BRIAN D. MORRIS
of the Eastern District of New York.
THE NEWLY-INDICTED DEFENDANTS:
NAME
|
AGE
|
NATIONALITY
|
1.
ALFREDO HAWIT
|
64
|
Honduras
|
2.
ARIEL ALVARADO
|
56
|
Panama
|
3.
BRAYAN JIMÉNEZ
|
61
|
Guatemala
|
4.
CARLOS CHÁVEZ
|
57
|
Bolivia
|
5.
EDUARDO DELUCA
|
75
|
Argentina
|
6.
HÉCTOR TRUJILLO
|
62
|
Guatemala
|
7.
JOSÉ LUÍS MEISZNER
|
69
|
Argentina
|
8.
JUAN ÁNGEL NAPOUT
|
57
|
Paraguay
|
9.
LUÍS CHIRIBOGA
|
69
|
Ecuador
|
10.
MANUEL BURGA
|
58
|
Peru
|
11.
MARCO
POLO DEL NERO
|
74
|
BRAZIL
|
12.
RAFAEL CALLEJAS
|
72
|
Honduras
|
13.
RAFAEL SALGUERO
|
70
|
Guatemala
|
14.
REYNALDO VASQUEZ
|
59
|
El Salvador
|
15.
RICARDO
TEIXEIRA
|
68
|
BRAZIL
|
16.
ROMER OSUNA
|
72
|
Bolivia
|
THE CONVICTED DEFENDANTS:
NAME
|
AGE
|
NATIONALITY
|
I.
ALEJANDRO BURZACO
|
51
|
Argentina
|
II.
FABIO TORDIN
|
50
|
BRAZIL
|
III.
JEFFREY WEBB
|
51
|
Cayman Islands
|
IV.
JOSÉ MARGULIES
|
76
|
BRAZIL
|
V.
LUIS BEDOYA
|
56
|
Colombia
|
VI.
ROGER HUGUET
|
52
|
USA, Spain
|
VII.
SERGIO JADUE
|
36
|
Chile
|
VIII.
ZORANA DANIS
|
52
|
Belgium
|
E.D.N.Y. Docket Numbers:
United States v. Zorana Danis, 15 Cr. 240 (RJD)
United States v. Jeffrey Webb et al., 15 Cr. 252 (RJD)
United States v. Fabio Tordin, 15 Cr. 564 (RJD)
United States v. Luis Bedoya, 15 Cr. 569 (RJD)
United States v. Sergio Jadue, 15 Cr. 570 (RJD)
United States v. Roger Huguet, 15 Cr. 585 (RJD)
15-1483
Updated December 5, 2015
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário