Former Guatemalan soccer head sentenced in FIFA scandal

REUTERS - Former Guatemalan football chief Brayan Jimenez was sentenced to time served on Tuesday (February 5) and ordered to forfeit $350,000 of proceeds from his crimes at Brooklyn federal court for his part in a FIFA bribery scandal, court spokesman John Marzulli told Reuters. Jimenez, also a former member of a FIFA committee for fair play and social responsibility, was among several dozen officials who were indicted in the United States in 2015, sparking the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the global soccer body. He pleaded guilty to racketeering and corruption charges before a U.S. judge in 2017 and was banned from the sport for life. Jimenez was accused of taking bribes from sports marketing companies in relation to the award of television and sponsorship rights for World Cup qualifiers in Central America, and for Guatemala's participation in international friendlies. Outside of the courthouse, Jimenez said he hoped his experience would be a cautionary tale and would lead to cleaning up FIFA. The U.S. district attorney said at the time of Jimenez's plea bargain that the bribes he accepted totaled "hundreds of thousands of dollars".