By Paul Nicholson
January 10 – While dates have still to be set for the sentencing of former Brazilian FA president Jose Maria Marin and former South American confederation president Juan Angel Napout – both found guilty of corruption in the FIFA-gate case on December 21 – former CONCACAF president Jeff Webb’s sentencing date has been moved again, this time to March 7.
The Brooklyn Federal court in New York has released a new schedule of sentencing for 12 of the football executives indicted in the FIFA-gate case and who are currently on parole in the US. Five of them still have dates to be set, the others being – Rafael Esquivel, Eduardo Li and Julio Rocha.
So far just two people have been sentenced. Former Guatemala Football Federation leader Hector Trujillo was first to be sentenced, being given an eight month prison sentence and fined $415,000, while Costas Takkas, described as an aide to Jeff Webb, was sentenced to 15 months (10 of them being taken into account for prison time he served in Switzerland before he was extradited) and to pay a share of $3 million in restitution to the Caribbean Football Union (CFU).
Webb is the highest profile of those to be sentenced, having pleaded guilty on 23 November 2015, having been arrested in dawn raids on the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, in May 2015. He has pleaded guilty to seven counts of bribery, conspiracy and money-laundering.
This is the sixth time Webb’s sentencing has been put back, it was set for January 24.
US prosecutors still have a number of outstanding arrest warrants, most notably for Trinidad and Tobago’s Jack Warner, who Webb followed on as CONCACAF president following an interim presidency by Alfredo Hawit (also arrested and awaiting sentencing on March 14).
Arrest warrants are also outstanding for Brazil’s former FA president Ricardo Teixeira and suspended Brazilian FA president Marco Polo del Nero.
The next round of court action is currently scheduled to being March 5 with the sentencing of another Guatemalan, Bryan Jimenez, followed two days later by Webb.
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