A U.S. prosecutor said that several defendants charged in a wide-ranging corruption case involving FIFA "are in talks with U.S. officials about possibly pleading guilty," according to Nate Raymond of REUTERS. Assistant U.S. Attorney Evan Norris "spoke at a hearing in Brooklyn federal court" after U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen set a Nov. 6, 2017, trial date for seven former football officials and one former marketing exec. Norris said, "We are in ongoing plea discussions with several of these defendants." The eight defendants, "who have all pleaded not guilty, are among the 42 individuals and entities charged so far as part of a U.S. investigation." U.S. prosecutors "accuse the defendants of participating in schemes" involving more than $200M in bribes and kickbacks. To date, 16 people and two sports marketing companies "have pleaded guilty to U.S. charges" (REUTERS, 9/19). BLOOMBERG's Patricia Hurtado reported Norris told Chen that federal investigators are also "still reviewing hundreds of thousands of other documents produced" after American officials asked their Paraguay counterparts to search the HQ of CONMEBOL. He said that some of those documents "may contain material that may be important to the defense." Chen said that lawyers "may need extra time" to review the 10 million pages of evidence produced by the investigation so far (BLOOMBERG, 9/19).
RENEWED CRITICISM: INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL's Andrew Warshaw reported FIFA President Gianni Infantino's regime has "come under renewed criticism over the already infamous ruling allowing members of FIFA’s new-look Council, supposedly a key element of FIFA’s reform process, to hire and fire independent governance officials." The rule, tabled at the 11th hour at FIFA’s Congress in Mexico in May with Infantino’s backing, "led to the immediate resignation" of Audit & Compliance Chief Domenico Scala in protest at what he described as a “smuggled in” agenda item. Denmark's Allan Hansen, who worked under Scala and is still a member of the audit and compliance committee as well as a prominent UEFA exec committee member, said that "he was against the ruling which many observers feel has comprised FIFA’s independent bodies and cemented Infantino’s power base." Hansen: "I'm not in favor of that kind of rule and I made this clear" (INSIDE WORLD FOOTBALL, 9/20).
EXTENDED BANS: The AP reported FIFA said that its disciplinary panel has "extended bans to apply worldwide in doping cases for six players in Africa, Asia and Europe." All the cases were "previously judged at confederation or national association level, with bans of between six months and four years imposed." The "highest-profile player" was Congo int'l Christian Ngudikama (AP, 9/20).
BIG WIN FOR LITTLE CLUB: REUTERS' Karolos Grohmann reported provincial German club SV Wilhelmshaven won a "long-standing court battle" against FIFA's relegation order over the transfer of a player. Germany's Federal Court of Justice on Tuesday ruled in favor of the club which was "forced into relegation from the northern regional league" after the '13-14 season on FIFA orders. In a statement, Wilhelmshaven said, "We won. David beats against Goliath" (REUTERS, 9/20).
