Reynaldo Vasquez, former president of the Salvadoran soccer federation admitted his role in a purportedly criminal scheme centered around bribing Central American sports officials on Monday, marking the the latest page in the book of guilty pleas to come out of the U.S. government’s expansive FIFA corruption investigation.
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During the remote hearing before U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen, Vasquez — the onetime president of the Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol, or FESFUT, pled guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy.
Prosecutors accuse Vasquez of taking bribes in exchange for granting media and marketing rights to the national team’s FIFA World Cup qualifying matches. They also allege he helped secure “friendlies”, non-tournament matches against other national teams in the Central American Football Union.
Vasquez was initially charged and indicted in 2015 with a laundry list of financial crimes, including: racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The terms of his U.S extradition from El Salvador earlier this year however, only allowed prosecution on the racketeering conspiracy charge.
Speaking through a Spanish interpreter, Vasquez admitted to Judge Chen that in 2012 he sold marketing and media rights for matches to be played ahead of the 2018 World Cup in exchange for $350,000 in bribe money in an account he controlled from a coconspirator at Miami-based sports marketer Media World.
“My participation in this bribing was wrong,” Vasquez said.
As part of his agreement, Vasquez has agreed to forfeit $360,000 and also pay any restitution if connected with his sentencing. Another term of the agreement is that Vasquez will not contest his deportation from the U.S.
Vasquez’s attorney told Judge Chen the defense believes a sentencing range of 27 to 33 months would be appropriate for the crimes committed. The government’s estimation is a bit higher, from 33 to 41 months.
“Mr. Vasquez didn’t achieve his dream of wealth and power, and now he faces the possibility of many years in federal prison,” Michael J. Driscoll, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York office, said in a statement. “Today’s plea should demonstrate to others who attempt to corrupt international soccer — we play to win.”
The FIFA corruption probe has resulted in dozens of publicly announced individual guilty pleas, four corporate guilty pleas (including Julius Baer) and the convictions at trial of two other former presidents of South American soccer federations.
In October 2019, FIFA slapped Vasquez with a lifetime ban and fined him 500,000 Swiss francs ($546,800) after finding him guilty of bribery, a violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics.
Vasquez is sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16.
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