While a lot of attention has been heaped on big fish like Sepp Blatter, Jeff Webb and others in FIFA’s ongoing bribery cases, little attention has been paid in the media to the biggest of issues — actual bribery to get contracts for FIFA properties.
On Thursday, it was announced that Aaron Davidson, the Miami-based executive of disgraced Brazilian soccer marketing company, Traffic Group, would be pleading guilty in a federal bribery case.
All in all, that makes 17 people and two companies out of 42 total defendants who have pled out in the massive FIFA corruption case that is still going in the United States alone.
Davidson was supposed to be one of seven defendants to go to trial in early 2017, but this plea allows him to not face trail.
He was facing major jail time as part of a scandal that has seen nearly $200 million in bribes and kickbacks that were sought or exchanged hands according to the U.S. Justice Department.
This could be a long, drawn out situation as plenty of defendants are from outside the United States and have to undergo extradition.
Just how difficult is that process? This past Tuesday, an Argentinian judge denied a request to extradite father-and-son sports marketing team Hugo and Mariano Jinkis and former regional soccer chief Eduardo Deluca.
So, don’t expect the headlines to stop anytime soon.
[Reuters]
