One of the seven FIFA officials arrested in Zurich as part of a corruption probe has been extradited to the United States, the Swiss Justice Ministry said on Thursday. The Federal Office of Justice said the man, whom it did not identify, was extradited on Wednesday after 50 days of detention in Switzerland.
“He was handed over to a three-man US police escort in Zurich who accompanied him on the flight to New York,” the ministry said.
The official agreed last week to be extradited, unlike six others who are fighting extradition. The extradition hearings are being held by Zurich cantonal (state) police in a process expected to finish by early September, Swiss justice office spokesman Raphael Frei said. Appeals to the federal criminal court and supreme court can extend the cases by several months.
The extradited man is accused of “accepting bribes totaling millions of dollars in connection with the sale of marketing rights to various sports marketing firms and keeping the money for himself,” the justice office said last week.
All seven men were arrested on May 27 in dawn raids on a luxury hotel in Zurich by Swiss federal police at the request of American federal agencies.
They include FIFA vice president Jeffrey Webb and former FIFA vice president Eugenio Figueredo of Uruguay. Both have been suspended from football duty by FIFA’s ethics committee.
The others are: Jose Maria Marin, who led Brazil’s 2014 World Cup organizing committee; Eduardo li, an elected member of FIFA’s executive committee and president of Costa Rica’s football federation; FIFA staffer Julio Rocha, a development officer from Nicaragua; Venezuela federation president Rafael Esquivel; and Costas Takkas, a Briton who works for CONCACAF President Webb.
A total of 14 men — nine football officials and five marketing executives — were indicted by the US Department of Justice in May, including disgraced former FIFA VP Jack Warner, who is resisting extradition from T&T.
US authorities have said more indictments should follow, and FIFA President Sepp Blatter is a target of the widening case. Under pressure from the investigation, Blatter announced on June 2 that he would leave office within months. On Monday, he will chair a meeting to decide on an election date to replace him as president.