FORMER FIFA vice-president Jeffrey Webb has arrived in the United States to face criminal charges in a global soccer corruption scandal, a U.S. prosecutor confirmed yesterday to the judge overseeing the case.Prosecutor Evan Norris said during a court hearing in Brooklyn, New York, that he did not know when Webb would make his first appearance in court to hear the charges against him and enter a plea.
Webb, a Cayman Islands national, was arrested in May in Zurich, along with six other current and former FIFA officials, as U.S. authorities announced a sweeping investigation of corruption in soccer. He later agreed not to fight extradition from Switzerland.
A U.S. lawyer for Webb, who was also president of the CONCACAF regional soccer federation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment yesterday.
U.S. authorities are seeking the extradition of the six other officials from Switzerland as well as defendants from other countries.
Norris said during the hearing that he did not know how long the Swiss process would take because the defendants could seek lengthy appeals in courts there.
U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie said it was too soon to set a trial date for Webb or for Aaron Davidson, a former sports marketing executive in Miami. Davidson, the only other defendant currently in the United States among 14 men who were indicted, has pleaded not guilty.
The indictment unsealed by U.S. prosecutors charged soccer officials and marketing executives with exploiting the sport for their own gain through bribes of more than $150 million over 24 years. U.S. and Swiss authorities say they are continuing with parallel investigations of the sport.
A U.S. trial, likely months away, could happen before all the defendants have arrived on U.S. soil, the judge said. The U.S. Constitution guarantees defendants a “speedy” trial.
“Somebody’s going to insist on his trial, and at some point, we’re going to have to accommodate him,” Dearie said.