By Liam Morgan |
Three officials implicated in the widespread FIFA corruption scandal have been banned from football for life by the Adjudicatory Chamber of the governing body’s Ethics Committee.
In a statement, FIFA confirmed the sanctions against Costas Takkas, the former Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) attache and assistant to disgraced President Jeffrey Webb, Miguel Trujillo and Aaron Davidson.
Trujillo is a former FIFA match agent, while Davidson is an ex-chairman of the North American Soccer League and former president of Traffic Sports USA – one of the companies at the heart of the scandal.
The three officials have all pleaded guilty to criminal corruption charges following their indictment by the United States Department of Justice (DoJ).
They have each been banned for life for bribery and corruption, while they have also been fined $1 million.
Takkas, a Cyprus-born British citizen who also served as general secretary of the Cayman Islands Football Association, was sentenced to 15 months in prison last November.
The 61-year-old, one of the first officials arrested in May 2015 before FIFA’s Congress in Zurich, had already served 10 of the 15 months in Switzerland prior to his extradition to the US.
Davidson, the former President of the Miami-based headquarters of Brazilian sports marketing conglomerate Traffic Group, admitted to charges of racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud in October 2016.
Trujillo pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud conspiracy in connection with his participation in several schemes to bribe football officials in 2016.
The investigation in the US has seen a total of 42 officials and entities indicted by the DoJ in a scandal which shook FIFA to its core and led to the departure of former President Sepp Blatter.
Former South American Football Confederation President Juan Angel Napout was last month jailed for nine months for his role, while former Brazilian Football Confederation head Jose Maria Marin was given four years in prison.
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.