Former FIFA Executive, President of CONMEBOL and Paraguayan Soccer Official Sentenced to Nine Years

[nitpicker]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/former-fifa-executive-president-conmebol-and-paraguayan-soccer-official-sentenced-nine

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of New York

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Former FIFA Executive, President of CONMEBOL and Paraguayan Soccer Official Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison for Racketeering and Corruption Offenses

Juan Ángel Napout also Ordered to Forfeit $3.3 Million in Bribe Receipts and Fined $1 Million

Juan Ángel Napout, a high-level figure in international soccer, was sentenced today in federal court in Brooklyn by United States District Judge Pamela K. Chen to nine years’ imprisonment following his trial convictions of conspiratorial racketeering and two counts of wire fraud conspiracy. The crimes of conviction related to Napout’s participation in schemes to accept millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for the media and marketing rights to various soccer tournaments. The Court also ordered Napout to pay $3,374,025.88 in forfeiture and imposed a fine of $1 million. A hearing on victim restitution is scheduled for October 4, 2018.

At the time of his arrest in December 2015, Napout was the president of CONMEBOL, the confederation responsible for soccer in South America, a FIFA Vice President and a member of the FIFA Executive Committee. He had previously served as the president of the Paraguayan Soccer Federation, known as the Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol, or APF. Napout was convicted following a six-week trial in November and December of 2017.
(snip)

As proved at trial, FIFA and its six continental confederations, together with affiliated regional federations, national member associations and sports marketing companies, constitute an enterprise of legal entities associated in fact for purposes of the federal racketeering laws. The principal, and entirely legitimate, purpose of the enterprise is to regulate and promote the sport of soccer worldwide. The enterprise financed its efforts in significant part by commercializing the media and marketing rights associated with various soccer events and tournaments, often through the sale of multi-year contracts covering multiple editions of the tournaments.

Evidence presented at trial, publicly filed documents and statements made in court established that Napout and his co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to corrupt the enterprise through racketeering activity. Specifically, Napout and his co-conspirators corrupted the FIFA enterprise through the offer and receipt of tens of millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks paid by sports marketing companies to soccer officials in exchange for the media and marketing rights to: (a) multiple editions of the CONMEBOL-sponsored Copa América soccer tournament played periodically by South American national teams, including the Copa América Centenario, a special edition of the tournament played in the United States in 2016; (b) multiple editions of the CONMEBOL-sponsored Copa Libertadores soccer tournament played annually by South American club teams and (c) two cycles of World Cup qualifying matches played by the Paraguayan national team and administered by the APF.
(snip)