Ex-El Salvador Soccer Chief Sentenced to 16 Months in FIFA Corruption Case
By Srikanto Mandal
3 Oct, 2022
Photo: fifa.com
The former president of the El Salvador's Soccer Federation was sentenced to 16 months in a US prison on Thursday.
He is accused of being involved in paying bribes to stage and broadcast matches.
U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen in Brooklyn sentenced Reynaldo Vasquez, the former president of the Federacion Salvadorena de Futbol (FESFUT).
Pleading guilty to conspiracy charges last year, Vasquez admitted to accepting $350,000 in bribes from Miami-based Media World in 2012.
It brokered broadcast rights targeting native people, to induce FESFUT to arrange media and marketing rights for 2018 World Cup qualifier matches.
Vasquez's case is part of a wider investigation into corruption at world soccer's governing body FIFA.
After an internal ethics committee found him guilty of bribery, FIFA banned him for life and fined him 500,000 Swiss francs ($512,610.21) in October 2019.