Ex-Brazil football chief, Jose Maria Marin pleaded not guilty in connection with the scandal engulfing FIFA for corruption. He has agreed to a $15 million bond in a US court on Tuesday and will be placed under house arrest while the case is heard.
Jose is accused of taking bribes worth million from companies. These were all taken in connection with the selling the marketing rights for the Copa America tournaments and the Copa Brasil.
The case was held in Brooklyn at a US federal court. The Judge hearing the case was Raymond Dearie, and he has set the 16th of December for the next hearing to take place.
The scandal that has engulfed FIFA is one of the biggest cases of its kind. It has severely damaged the reputation of international football, and the parties involved are accused of taking more than $150 million in bribes over the last two decades. So far the US has brought charges against 14 FIFA officials and marketing executives.
Marin was extradited to the United States last week by Swiss prosecutors. Two police officers from the US met Marin in Zürich and flew with him to take him to Brooklyn for the court hearing.
The Brazilian was arrested on the 27th of May by Swiss police along with a number of other high-profile FIFA officials. The 83-year-old is alleged to have taken bribes and shared these with other football officials.
Marin is not the only high-profile arrest to be extradited to the US. The former vice-president of FIFA, Jeffrey Webb was also extradited on the 15th of July.
Presently five officials from FIFA that were arrested in May are trying to fight extradition. Marin has pleaded not guilty to the charges he is accused of by the US authorities.
The former president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, is one of the people who was arrested by authorities in Switzerland. He is suspected of misappropriation of the funds for the TV right deals, and criminal mismanagement along with making a disloyal payment to Michel Platini in 2011.
The Swiss Authorities interrogated Blatter at the FIFA headquarters on Friday. He still states he is innocent of any wrongdoing despite a number of corruption allegations that has been put forward against him.
Platini’s involvement is the case has severely damaged his chances of becoming the next President of FIFA. He was one of the bookies favorites to land the prestigious role before information came out overpayment made to him from Blatter.
The FIFA scandal does not look like it is going to end anytime soon. More and more allegations of bribery and corruption are coming out each week. It has severely damaged football and is going to take a long time to clean up one of the biggest blunders in the world’s most popular sport.