Sports marketing consultant, Miguel Trujillo pleaded guilty on bribery charges over FIFA corruption case. Under the world governing body FIFA corruption probe, 42 known individuals are charged involving the case, according to the court documents.
Miguel Trujillo, 65 years old, a licensed FIFA match agent in Florida entered a guilty plea during a trial in federal court in New York. Charges include four counts of conspiracy to commit money-laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, Reuters reported.
According to Financial Times, Trujillo admitted of bribing FIFA high ranking officials with hundreds of thousands of dollars as well as regional governing bodies, such as Concacaf and four federations in Central America and the Caribbean. The bribery schemes links to media and marketing contracts and friendly games. Prosecutors also said, Trujillo paid bribes for sports marketing companies and for his business.
Under an agreement with prosecutors, Trujillo pledged to forfeit $495,000. U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie approved his release on a $1.5 million bond, Daily News reported. The defendant could not also immediately be reached for comment. His attorney, Joseph Rosenbaum, declined to comment as well.
Rafael Esquivel, also among the 42 defendants under FIFA corruption probe appeared separately on the same court on Tuesday, pleaded not guilty to receiving bribes worth millions of dollars in connection with the sale of tournament marketing rights. Esquivel is the former Venezuelan national soccer federation president as well as a executive committee member of CONMEBOL.
Trujillo, who is Colombian citizen and a U.S. legal permanent resident, is one of the known individuals and entities charged for US investigations involving $200 million in alleged bribes and kickback schemes tied to the marketing of major soccer tournaments and matches around the globe.
In May 2015, the US Department of Justice filed an indictment against FIFA officials and sports business executives who were involved on alleging wire fraud, money laundering, racketeering and obstruction of justice over the years.
