|
Alejandro Burzaco, the former head of Argentine
sports marketing company Torneos y Competencias, pleaded guilty
in 2015 to three counts of racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud
conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy and agreed to
cooperate with federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.
Neither the details of his plea agreement nor prosecutors'
recommended sentence are public. U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen
is expected to determine Burzaco's sentence at a hearing in
Brooklyn federal court starting at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT).
Burzaco, 58, admitted to paying bribes and kickbacks to
officials at world soccer governing body FIFA and regional
affiliates for marketing rights to tournaments including the
World Cup and Copa America. He has also said that Qatar bribed
FIFA officials to host the 2022 World Cup, which the Middle
Eastern country denies.
His plea stemmed from a sweeping probe of corruption in global
soccer that has resulted in scores of convictions since U.S. and
international authorities made their first arrests in 2015.
At a trial in 2017, Burzaco told jurors that he paid bribes to
Juan Angel Napout, the former head of South American governing
body CONMEBOL, former Brazilian soccer chief Jose Maria Marin,
and former Peru soccer federation president Manuel Burgato to
secure rights to matches.
Napout and Marin were convicted and Burgato was found not
guilty.
Burzaco also testified at the trial this year of Hernan Lopez
and Carlos Martinez, two former 21st Century Fox executives
accused of bribing soccer officials for broadcasting rights.
Lopez and sports marketing company Full Play Group SA were
convicted and Martinez was acquitted.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York, editing by Ed Osmond)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
|
