The former chief of the El Salvador football federation has been extradited to the Eastern District of New York on charges stemming from the FIFA bribery scandal, officials announced Friday.
Reynaldo Vasquez was one of dozens of international soccer executives indicted in 2015, accused of pocketing more than $150 million in bribes and kickbacks in a decades-long pattern of corruption. Many of his co-defendants have since been convicted.
Vasquez, former president of the Federation Salvadorena de Futbol, pleaded not guilty to RICO and related wire fraud and money laundering counts on Friday in Brooklyn federal court.
The disgraced soccer executive was sentenced to eight years in prison in a Salvadoran court on embezzlement charges in 2017, according to Agence France-Presse.
Two years later, FIFA banned him for life and fined him $522,000, the news agency reported.
Vasquez’s attorney couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Reynaldo Vasquez is escorted by authorities in San Salvador, El Salvador. ZUMAPRESS.com





