Fifa cheats come clean over bribes
A US judge has released transcripts of guilty pleas from three prominent defendants who confess to crimes and agree to pay $37.5-million (R525-million) in compensation in the sweeping Fifa corruption investigation.
Former Fifa vice-president Jeffrey Webb, Argentinian-Italian marketing executive Alejandro Burzaco and Brazilian intermediary Jose Margulies pleaded guilty last year to racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies.
US prosecutors have accused 40 officials and marketing executives in total of soliciting and receiving tens of millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks in a case that has sparked an unprecedented crisis at Fifa.
The transcripts, released on Monday, show the three expressing regret and suggesting that bribes are standard practice. All three, now confined to US house arrest, will be sentenced for corruption in New York in June.
“I abused my position to obtain bribes and kickbacks for my personal benefit,” Webb, who suffers from a heart condition, told the judge in pleading guilty to seven counts and confessing to enriching himself from 2012-2014.
He said he was told in 2012 that sports marketing companies would offer “side payments” in exchange for commercial rights to soccer matches. “I believed such offers were common in this business,” he told the judge.
He confessed to receiving bribes for the sale of commercial rights for 2018 and 2022 World Cup qualifying matches, and in 2012, 2013 and 2014, including for the Copa America Centenario tournament, which will be held in June.
“I deeply regret my participation in this illegal conduct,” said the dual Cayman IslandsBritish citizen who was educated in the United States.
He confessed to conspiring to defraud his employers and commit money laundering offences by transmitting money from the US to front accounts in Panama, the Cayman Islands and elsewhere.
After his confession, the court last November lifted his security detail and allowed him to leave home in Georgia seven days a week from 8am to 5pm, ostensibly to care for his then 18-month-old son.
His wife is a doctor in Atlanta, making Webb “solely responsible” for their child, the court heard.
“He is a busy man,” Judge Raymond Dearie said.
His freedom of movement was limited to a 32km radius and Webb was still subject to electronic tagging.
The documents, released following a request from US media, were still heavily redacted.
Burzaco, 51, the former chairman of the board of Torneos y Competencias SA, an Argentine sports marketing company, also voiced regret.
“I was wrong,” he said, confessing to paying bribes and kickbacks totalling tens of millions of dollars to multiple soccer officials to obtain marketing rights to various tournaments.
“Torneos and I profited from these payments directly and indirectly by securing these rights,” he said.
Court papers complained last month that Webb has kept up a millionaire lifestyle quaffing champagne, gambling and partying while under arrest at the US home he may have purchased “with bribes and kickbacks”. In a letter to the US attorney’s office, Fifa’s lawyers requested an “immediate” audit of Webb’s funds and assets, expressing concern that he may not have fully disclosed them to the court.
Fifteen individuals have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with US prosecutors in exchange for a possible reduction in sentence. — AFP