March 13 – Former CONMEBOL vice-president Rafael Esquivel, who pleaded not guilty last week to receiving bribes worth millions of dollars in connection with the sale of tournament marketing rights, has been placed under house arrest while he awaits trial.
Unlike many others caught up in the FifaGate corruption scandal, Esquivel, former president of the Venezuelan federation and the latest official to be extradited to the USA from Switzerland, has denied the charges against him and won the right to be released from jail on a $7 million bond.
Brooklyn federal judge Raymond Dearie agreed he could be released to his son and daughter after securing the bond with $2 million in cash and no fewer than 12 properties.
The conditions of release require Esquivel to surrender his passports and be subject to electronic monitoring and round-the-clock surveillance.
The judge said Esquivel would not be permitted to leave New York or Florida, but did not give precise details about where he will be held. He was ordered to reappear in court in New York on April 13 for a pre-trial hearing.
Esquivel is one of 42 individuals and entities charged by U.S. authorities during the crisis that sent FIFA into freefall. He was one of the original Zurich Seven arrested 10 months ago just before FIFA’s May congress.
While in detention in Switzerland the 69-year-old had two requests for release turned down whilst citing health problems.
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