BROOKLYN (CN) — One of the few FIFA officials readying for trial over the FIFA bribery scandal has changed his mind, entering a plea of guilty to racketeering on Monday.
Reynaldo Vasquez, who served for a year as president of the Federacion Salvadorena de Futbol, agreed as part of the deal to forfeit $360,000 of the bribes he had received.
By pleading guilty, the 65-year-old Vasquez faces a 20-year maximum prison sentence. There is no minimum sentence, though prosecutors on the call said they expect Vasquez to receive a sentence of up to 41 months.
“My participation in this bribing was wrong,” Vasquez said through an interpreter during the telephonic hearing on Monday.
In 2015, Vasquez and dozens of other soccer officials were indicted on charges that they took money in exchange for doling out media and marketing rights for matches played by El Salvador’s national soccer team. The scheme also involved, according to prosecutors, attempts to influence the selection process of the World Cup host.
To make the bribes seem legitimate, according to the superseding indictment, officials allegedly used fake contracts and bogus invoices, while also employing currency dealers and international bankers to facilitate the illicit payments.
Vasquez allegedly took bribes from Media World, a sports marketing company, to fix media rights to several qualifying matches for the 2014 World Cup. Prosecutors said Vasquez was additionally paid off to organize friendly matches between the men’s national soccer teams of Costa Rica, Guatemala and his native El Salvador.
During the Monday hearing, Vasquez admitted he had received $350,000 from a Media World bank account in Florida to a bank account he had set up in Panama. He received at least one other payment of $10,000 over the next few years, and when money began to dry up he claims he sent an anonymous letter warning a co-conspirator at Media World to “pay attention to our common friend.”
“I was never present when the bribes were given,” Vasquez told the court, adding that he merely “lent myself to be a conduit” for the overall scheme.
Vasquez was arrested in late 2015. Following his extradition to the United States, Vasquez pleaded not guilty in January to the bribery charges. Others ensnared in the scandal have pleaded guilty to avoid trial. Apart from the legal fallout, Vasquez has been banned for life from all FIFA activities.
The wide-ranging scandal also took down presidents of the Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football, as well as former FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who resigned from his post shortly after the first arrests were made.
Vasquez is represented by attorney Gary Cutler, who was present during the call. He is currently in El Salvador on home detention, though Cutler said he will file an application so Vasquez can leave his home wearing an ankle bracelet.
U.S. District Court Judge Pamela Chen accepted the guilty plea and scheduled sentencing for December 16.
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