FIFA corruption trial to begin in New York, ex-officials to be questioned

New York: The bribery trial of three South American ex-officials is to kick off in New York on Monday, two and a half years after US prosecutors unveiled the largest graft scandal in the history of world soccer. Forty-two officials and marketing executives, and three companies were indicted in an exhaustive 236-page complaint detailing 92 separate crimes and 15 corruption schemes to the tune of $200 million. US prosecutors announced the indictments on May 27, 2015, lifting the lid on a quarter of a century of endemic corruption in the heart of FIFA, soccer’s governing body. Yet when jury selection begins at a federal court in Brooklyn, scheduled Monday, only three are going on trial — three fabulously wealthy and once powerful soccer officials from South America. They are charged with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. The most high-profile is Jose Maria Marin, 85, former president of Brazil’s Football Confederation — the sport’s organising body in one of the premier soccer-playing nations in the world. Since his arrest at dawn by Swiss police in a five-star Zurich hotel and extradition, he has been out on bail, living in luxury at Trump Tower. — AFP