WASHINGTON/ZURICH Soccer bosses from across South and Central America were among 16 people charged on Thursday with multimillion-dollar bribery schemes for marketing and broadcast rights, in a dismantling of a Latin American soccer network by US prosecutors.
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Swiss authorities said Federation Internationale de Football Association vice presidents, Juan Angel Napout and Alfredo Hawit were arrested on Thursday in a pre-dawn raid at a Zurich hotel where several others were taken into custody in late May.
The arrests were carried out at the five-star Baur au Lac hotel, a favourite of FIFA s officials, and the same spot where seven top football executives were arrested in May on suspicion of involvement in tens of millions of dollars of corruption dating back decades.
Blatter attends a press conference at the Extraordinary FIFA Executive Committee Meeting at the FIFA headquarters on July 20, 2015 in Zurich, Switzerland.
Others named in the United States justice department indictment were Ariel Alvarado (Panama), Rafael Callejas (Honduras), Brayan Jimenez (Guatemala), Rafael Salguero (Guatemala), Hector Trujillo (Guatemala), Reynaldo Vasquez (El Salvador), Juan Angel Napout (Paraguay), Manuel Burga (Peru), Carlos Chavez (Bolivia), Luis Chiriboga (Ecuador), Eduardo Deluca (Argentina), Jose Luis Meiszner (Argentina) and Romer Osuna (Bolivia).
It said in a statement: “The reason for the ban, which was based on the request of the investigatory chamber under its chairman Dr Cornel Borbély, is the indictment issued yesterday by the United States Department of Justice for charges of racketeering, conspiracy and corruption”.
The charges were announced by Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch.
The new indictment identified Brazil Football Confederation chief Marco Polo del Nero and former CBF head Ricardo Teixeira in the list of defendants, both former FIFA executive committee members.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie, lawyer Charles A. Stillman said Marin hopes to obtain a $2 million surety bond, the final item of collateral, in the next week.
According to the DoJ, the new charges brings the total number of individuals and entities charged up to 41 since the investigation was opened in May, with 12 individuals and two sports marketing companies agreeing to pay US$190m (£126m, €175m) in forfeiture after being convicted. “You will not escape our focus”, said Lynch.
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“FIFA will continue to cooperate fully with the USA investigation as permitted by Swiss law, as well as with the investigation being led by the Swiss Office of the Attorney General”.
