A U.S. judge released transcripts on Monday of guilty pleas from "three prominent defendants in the sweeping" FIFA corruption investigation in which they "expressed regret and suggested that bribery in the organization was widespread," according to the AFP. Former FIFA VP Jeffrey Webb, Argentinian-Italian marketing exec Alejandro Burzaco and Brazilian intermediary José Margulies pleaded guilty last year "to racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies." In the transcripts released on Monday, the three men said they "regretted their actions and suggested that bribes were standard practice." All three, who are confined to U.S. house arrest, "will be sentenced for corruption" in N.Y. in June. Webb said, "I abused my position to obtain bribes and kickbacks for my personal benefit." He said that he was told in '12 that sports marketing companies would offer "side payments" or bribes in exchange for commercial rights to football matches. Webb: "I believed that such offers were common in this business." Burzaco, 51, the former chair of the board of Torneos y Competencias SA, an Argentinian sports marketing company, "also voiced regret." Confessing to paying bribes and kickbacks totaling tens of millions of dollars to multiple football officials to "obtain marketing rights to various tournaments," he said, "I was wrong" (AFP, 4/18).
