May 29 – Jose Hawilla (pictured), the ‘Mr Big’ in the football corruption cases brought by the US Department of Justice and who co-operated to bring down a cabal of crooked football administrators, has died in a Sao Paulo hospital aged 74.
Brazilian Hawilla, along with American and Concacaf football supremo Chuck Blazer (also dead), were the ‘co-conspirators’ who opened up the can of commercial worms plaguing South and North American football.
Hawilla owned the sports marketing agency Traffic that grew to dominate Brazilian sport, and become one of the biggest sports agencies in South America.
Arrested by US police in 2013, he was accused of paying bribes to football officials in return for Copa America marketing rights. Hawilla pled guilty in 2014 to racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
As part of his plea bargain he forfeited more than $151 million and agreed to co-operate with the US investigation that led to arrests in 2015 and more than 40 US Justice Department indictments.
Hawilla had begun his career as a radio journalist in Brazil before opening his agency selling ad space at bus stops and quickly growing to pitchside boards with a deal with the Brazilian FA (CBF).
Moving to the US in 1992, Hawilla lived in Florida where he opened the Traffic Sports USA business that was ultimately the vehicle whose payments brought down former Concacaf president and FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb.
After the New York trial last December of Angel Napout, Manuel Burga and Jose Maria Marin, where he was a witness, Hawilla was allowed to return to Brazil.
“I made a mistake,” he said at the trial. “I committed an error, and I regret it very much.”
Hawilla suffered from respiratory problems that were the cause of his death. The US federal court in Brooklyn had set a sentencing date of October 2018.
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