Traffic agency fined $1m in Fifa corruption case

The Traffic Sports agency has been ordered to pay fines totalling $1m (€881,000) in relation to its role in the corruption scandal surrounding world football’s governing body, Fifa.

U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen imposed fines of $500,000 apiece on Traffic Sports International and Traffic Sports USA,  according to the Associated Press news agency, in the latest update from the long-running federal court hearing in Brooklyn, New York.

Traffic had been heavily implicated in the wide-ranging scandal that has implicated several companies in the bribery of senior football officials to secure commercial rights to top tournaments. The agency has already agreed to cease operations as part of a plea agreement.

José Hawilla, founder of Traffic, described in December 2017 how his business was party to a $10m bribe paid to ex-Concacaf president Jeffrey Webb to secure rights to the 2016 Copa América Centenario.

Hawilla testified at the trial of Juan Ángel Napout, former president of the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) and the Paraguayan Football Association (APF); Manuel Burga, former president of the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF); and José Maria Marin, former president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).

The trio were charged with racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Napout was sentenced last August to nine years in prison, a week after Marin was jailed for four years in connection with the same case. Burga was acquitted, while Webb – who has pleaded guilty to racketeering charges – is awaiting sentencing.