April 14 – A US federal judge has denied a request by former Conmebol strongman and FIFAgate culprit Juan Angel Napout to be given compassionate release from prison because of the coronavirus pandemic but reserved judgment on his request for to be let out on bail pending his ongoing appeal.
The former Paraguayan FA boss was found guilty in August 2018 for his role and received a nine-year jail term, the longest sentence so far of any of those accused in the scandal that brought FIFA to its knees.
“I am not going to be a fugitive, your honour,” he told US District Judge Pamela K. Chen near the end of an 85-minute telephone hearing. “I’m just asking you, your honour, for your mercy.”
His request for bail was opposed by federal prosecutors, with assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel P. Nitze quoted as saying: “The motivation and incentive to flee is at its peak now that Mr. Napout has been in for a time and sees what it’s like and would face the prospect of going back in should he lose his appeal.”
He called Napout “a defendant of enormous means, zero ties to the United States, significant ties to his home country and to very powerful people in that home country, a demonstrated willingness to obstruct justice.”
Napout was president CONMEBOL from August 2014 until December 2015, of the Paraguayan Football Association from 2007-14 and a member of FIFA’s executive committee. He is being held at a low security prison in Miami while his appeal is pending.
Napout reportedly filed a request for compassionate release with the Bureau of Prisons at the end of March. His lawyers cited the risk of Covid infection in older people. The government countered that no prisoner at the Miami facility had fallen ill and Chen cited his being in the lower end of the 60-69 group.
“I don’t find his risk factors so significant in terms of the consequences of the disease if he gets it to warrant that,” she said of his request.
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