KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTING —- Juan Angel Napout, until less than four years ago a high-flying vice-president of FIFA and head of its South American governing body, has been jailed in New York for nine years on FIFAGate corruption charges.

Napout, after Brazilian Jose Maria Marin, is the second major target sentenced in the past seven days in the United States justice authorities’ prosecution of the scandal incriminating more than 40 senior football and marketing executives and several companies. The 60-year-old was also fined $1m and ordered to pay $3.3m in damages.

Prosecutors had sought a 10-year jail term for the Paraguayan who had denied all charges relating to an estimated $20m in bribes and kickbacks at his trial last November and December.

Juan Angel Napout . . . latest FIFAGate sentence

Both Napout and former Brazilian CBF president Marin had been in detention since their joint trial after having been found guilty of corruption offences which they had denied.

Napout had spent the two years before his trial under house arrest in Florida. He was then found guilty of three of the five counts he was facing: conspiracy to commit a criminal offense as part of a criminal organisation and conspiracy to commit bank fraud over broadcasting and media rights to the Copa America and the Copa Libertadores.

He was acquitted on two counts of money laundering relating to both tournaments. His lawyers are expected to follow appeal.

CONMEBOL role

Napout succeeded Uruguayan Eugenio Figueredo as president of CONMEBOL in August 2014 on an interim basis. On March 4, 2015, he was re-elected for a full term as president and also appointed a vice-president of FIFA.

He was not one of of the ‘Zurich Seven’ arrested by Swiss police acting on a US extradition warrant at the Baur au Lac hotel on the eve of FIFA Congress in May 2015.  Instead, despite believing he was safe from the long arm of the US law, he was similarly detained the following December while in Zurich on FIFA and CONMEBOL business.

The so-called FIFAGate investigation by the US Justice Department erupted into the public domain in May 2015 and led to the indictment of more than 40 individuals and companies and concerned around $200m in bribes in football in north, south and central America and the Caribbean.

In October 2015 Hector Trujillo, former head of the Guatemalan federation, became the first person to be sentenced as part of the investigation. He was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy.

Three of the accused – former CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer, Brazilian marketing magnate Jose Hawilla and Nicaragua’s Julio Rocha – have all died during the investigatory process.

Restitution claim

FIFA has lodged a multi-million dollar claims for restitution against all the indicted individuals. On October 4 a further hearing will be held in front of Judge Pamela Chen to consider the claims against Napout and Marin with a decision expected on November 20.

US authorities have been unable to apprehend former Brazilian confederation president Ricardo Teixeira and successor Marco Polo del Nero while they remain in Brazil. A clause in the national constitution prevents extradition of its citizens.

Teixeira, former son-in-law of the late long-serving FIFA president Joao Havelange, is also wanted by Spanish prosecutors over fraud allegations concerning rights to Brazil national team matches.

Sandro Rosell, former Nike executive and Barcelona president, has been in detention on associated charges for the past 19 months.

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Napout is due to be sentenced next Wednesday while a further hearing concerning Marin’s financial penalties has been scheduled for November 20.
Marin, also a former governor of São Paulo, had been found guilty on six of seven counts of money-laundering and wire fraud conspiracy concerning rights to South America’s Copa America and Copa Libertadores as well as the Copa do Brasil.
Marin had been president of the CBF during the country’s hosting of the World Cup in 2014 when he was also a member of the governing executive committee of world football federation FIFA.
Passing sentence, Judge Chen described Marin and other defendants as “a cancer in the sport they said they love” and that there was no other way of describing their actions as “pure greed.” Marin’s lawyers have indicated that he will appeal.
Marin was one of of the ‘Zurich Seven’ arrested by Swiss police acting on a US extradition warrant at the Baur au Lac hotel on the eve of FIFA Congress in 2015.  The Swiss courts rejected his opposition to extradition and he was held under house arrest in his Trump Tower apartment on Fifth Avenue while awaiting trial.
The so-called FIFAGate investigation by the US Justice Department erupted into the public domain in May 2015 and led to the indictment of more than 40 individuals and companies and concerned around $200m in bribes in football in north, south and central America and the Caribbean.
In October 2015 Hector Trujillo, former head of the Guatemalan federation, became the first person to be sentenced as part of the investigation. He was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy.
Costas Takkas, a British citizen who was a former general secretary of the Cayman Islands FA and aide to former FIFA vice-president Jeff Webb, was sentenced subsequently to 15 months in prison. Three of the accused – former CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer, Brazilian marketing magnate Jose Hawilla and Nicaragua’s Julio Rocha – have all died during the investigatory process.
FIFA has lodged a multi-million dollar claims for restitution against all the indicted individuals.
In the case of Marin FIFA is claiming $97,000 in travel and per diem expenses paid to him between 2012 and 2014. This includes a payment of $17,000 for World Cup duties in Brazil. FIFA is also claiming legal costs of $125,000 incurred during the trial plus a share of $28m legal costs incurred in preparation.
Marin’s lawyers, according to reports in Brazil, argue that FIFA is due nothing because it and its own officials were ”complicit in the reported offences.”
US authorities have been unable to bring CBF predecessor Ricardo Teixeira and successor Marco Polo de Nero to trial on similar charges to Marin while they remain in Brazil. A clause in the national constitution prevents the extradition of its citizens.
Teixeira, former son-in-law of the late long-serving FIFA president Joao Havelange, is also wanted by Spanish prosecutors over fraud allegations concerning rights to Brazil national team matches. Sandro Rosell, former Nike executive and Barcelona president, has been in detention on associated charges for the past 18 months.
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