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 Alfredo Hawit, a former FIFA vice president from Honduras who also
led the North and Central America and Caribbean confederation,
CONCACAF, pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, to
four conspiracy charges.
Hawit is one of 42 individuals and entities charged as part of a
U.S. investigation of more than $200 million in bribes and kickbacks
sought and received by soccer officials for marketing and broadcast
rights to tournaments and matches.
The investigation has sent Switzerland-based FIFA and other soccer
governing bodies into an unprecedented crisis. Gianni Infantino,
FIFA's newly elected president, has vowed to restore FIFA's image.
Hawit, 64, pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, two counts of
wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct justice. He also
agreed to forfeit $950,000 as part of his plea agreement.
 Speaking in Spanish, Hawit admitted in court to having received
hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from two sports marketing
companies that were seeking media rights for soccer matches and
tournaments.
"I knew it was wrong for me to accept such undisclosed payments,"
Hawit said through a translator.
To date, 15 people and two sports marketing companies have pleaded
guilty in the U.S. case. Prosecutors in a court filing on March 28
said they were in plea negotiations with multiple defendants.
Hawit, who also led the Honduras soccer federation, FENAFUTH, had
been arrested at a Zurich hotel on Dec. 3 along with South American
soccer chief Juan Angel Napout as the U.S. Department of Justice
unveiled charges against 16 people.
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Prosecutors estimate that under federal sentencing guidelines, Hawit
faces 78 to 97 months in prison.
An indictment alleged that executives at an Argentine sports
marketing company Full Play Group S.A. agreed to pay Hawit $250,000
in bribes in a failed bid from 2011 to 2012 to secure CONCACAF
marketing rights.
In court, Hawit said while serving as FENAFUTH's general secretary,
he also beginning in 2008 received "hundreds of thousands of
dollars" in bribes from Miami-based Media World for the rights to
2014, 2018, and 2022 World Cup qualifier matches.
Hawit said that after the original indictment in the case was
unsealed in May 2015, Hawit advised a co-conspirator to create sham
contracts "to mask the true nature of the bribe money" and to
deceive law enforcement about the payments.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler and
Alistair Bell)
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