ZURICH (AP) – Former FIFA vice president Jeffrey Webb has lost his appeal against a 1 million Swiss franc ($1.05 million) fine imposed by the soccer body's ethics committee.
FIFA says its appeals committee ruled the amount “was adequate.” Webb did not appeal his life ban from soccer. Webb, who was CONCACAF president for three years from May 2012, was banned for life and fined one million Swiss francs (US$1.056 million, 856,000 euros) by the FIFA adjudicatory chamber in September 2016 for offenses including “conflict of interest” and “corruption”.
Ex-FIFA vice president Webb, 53, appealed against the fine but world football's governing body announced on Monday that his appeal had been rejected.
Webb pleaded guilty in 2015 to racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies in the U.S. Department of Justice's sprawling investigation of bribery and corruption linked to international soccer.
Webb, a Cayman Islands banker, already agreed to forfeit more than $6.7 million. His sentencing is set for Sept. 7 in Brooklyn federal court. He was arrested in Zurich in 2015 and extradited to the United States, where he pleaded guilty in an American court to charges including fraud, money-laundering and racketeering and agreed to forfeit US$6.7 million (5.4 million euros).
FIFA has claimed $2 million from U.S. authorities in restitution for Webb's corruption.
He was president of the CONCACAF regional soccer body when he was arrested in Zurich in May 2015.
Webb, who was president of the Cayman Islands FA at the age of just 26 and became the youngest ever football confederation boss when he took over at CONCACAF, is still to be sentenced in the US.
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