Ex-FIFA vice-president Webb extradited to U.S.

Swiss authorities have said one of the seven men arrested in Zurich in the FIFA gate scandal has been dispatched to the U.S., after deciding not to contest an extradition application.

The man is believed to be Jeffrey Webb, a former president of CONCACAF, the Caribbean, Central and North American football confederation.

Mr. Webb, a Cayman Islands banker, was also a vice-president of FIFA and high-profile head of its anti-discrimination task force.

The former president also faces charges in the Cayman Islands over a healthcare fraud scandal.

He was delivered by Swiss security officials to a three-man U.S police delegation escort in Zurich on June 15.

Mr. Webb was accompanied on a flight to New York after having agreed last week not to contest the application.

He has been accused of “accepting bribes totalling millions of dollars in connection with the sale of marketing rights to various sports marketing firms and keeping the money for himself.”

A statement from the Swiss Federal Office of Justice read: “The first of the seven FIFA officials being held in custody in Switzerland was extradited to the U.S. on July 15.”

The other six men arrested in Zurich two days before FIFA Congress in Zurich in May are contesting extradition and are being held separately in four prisons around Zurich.

The six, who have all been suspended from football, are: Eduardo Li (Costa Rica), Julio Rocha (Nicaragua), Costas Takkas (former aide to Webb), Eugenio Figueredo (Uruguay), Rafael Esquivel (Venezuela) and Jose Maria Marin (Brazil).

(AIPS/NAN)