June 26 – A Brooklyn court has awarded Concacaf potentially upwards of $20 million in damages against its former president Jack Warner.
The lawsuit was filed by Concacaf in 2017 and is a separate to the cases filed by the US Justice Department, though the allegations against Warner are broadly the same.
Concacaf had filed a similar case against former general secretary Chuck Blazer. In both case the confederation claimed millions of dollars had been taken in exchange for their FIFA executive committee votes for World Cup hosting, while domestically they had received kickbacks for the award of broadcast rights to major events, including the 2010 World Cup.
Warner, although served papers in Trinidad where he is still battling extradition, did not have representation in court.
“There can be no doubt that Warner and Blazer victimized Concacaf, stealing and defrauding it out of tens of millions of dollars in brazen acts of corruption for their own personal benefit at the expense of the entire Concacaf region,” the Concacaf complaint said.
Concacaf claimed no less than $20 million saying it was entitled to three times that amount as well as recovery costs and legal fees. Judge Kuntz agreed to evaluate the costs based on the evidence submitted to the court.
Concacaf have already settled a similar complaint with the Blazer estate for $20 million but are unlikely to see any of that money due to money owed to US tax authorities whose stand in first position on the debt.
Warner is still facing extradition from Trinidad and now looks to be in the final stages of that process.
Earlier this month Warner has failed in his appeal over the dismissal of his lawsuit challenging the extradition request. Three Judges of the Court of Appeal upheld the original decision to dismiss his judicial review lawsuit in September, 2017.
He could stave off being sent to the US with the Appeal Court staying a ruling by three judges for 21 days pending an application by Warner for permission to argue his case at the Privy Council. Local Trinidad sources are sceptical that Warner will win that argument
Warner is accused of 12 offences related to racketeering, corruption and money laundering, allegedly committed in the US and Trinidad and Tobago, dating as far back as 1990. Warner, currently on $2.5 million bail, has not left his homeland since the original arrests of FIFA officials by the US Department of Justice in May 2015.
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