Costa Rica football federation received bribe from U.S. company for Eduardo Li: Prosecutors

May 28^th, 2015 (InsideCostaRica.com) According to a 161-page indictment by prosecutors in the United States, the Costa Rican Football Federation (Fedefútbol) received a bribe on behalf of its president, Eduardo Li, from a U.S. company in 2012.  The funds were transferred into a bank account held by the federation at Lafise Bank in Costa Rica, according to U.S. authorities.

Li was arrested along with 14 other top FIFA officials in Zurich, Switzerland on Wednesday, and is facing extradition to the United States.  The U.S. has charged Li with conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to launder money, and money laundering.  Li could face up to 20 years in U.S. prison and fines of up to $1.5 million.

According to one of the indictment’s allegations, Li sought a six-figure bribe from a U.S. company called Traffic Sports USA for the exclusive commercial rights to broadcast the Costa Rican national team’s World Cup qualifying games.

Li signed the contract, worth between $2.5 million and $3 million (depending on the success of the team) on September 4^th, 2009.  The deal included a schedule of payments to be made in 2014 and 2017.

As part of the six-figure bribe demanded by Li and agreed to by Traffic USA, U.S. prosecutors allege, Traffic Sports USA made a wire transfer for $27,500 from a Citibank account in Miami to an account held by Fedefútbol at Banco Lafise in Costa Rica on August 1^st, 2012.

The funds were intended as one of several payments to Li for the contract.  While the Traffic Sports USA executive who originally agreed to the bribe left the company to become the general secretary of CONCACAF in July 2012, Li continued to seek payments from the company, the indictment alleges.

FIFA has provisionally suspended Li, and Costa Rican prosecutors announced yesterday that they would open their own investigation of Li on suspicion of money laundering.

Fedefútbol vice president, Jorge Hidalgo said yesterday he was “shocked” at Li’s arrest, but denied that Fedefútbol was in any way involved.

Football’s global governing body, FIFA, was rocked Wednesday by a massive U.S. federal corruption indictment against current and former top officials and the announcement of a separate investigation by Swiss authorities into allegations connected to the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

The U.S. indictment includes 47 counts against 14 people, covering charges of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering, in a scheme that prosecutors said involved sports media executives paying or agreeing to pay more than $150 million in exchange for marketing rights to tournaments.

The Justice Department described it as a “24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer.”