FILE PHOTO – Former president of Peruvian Football Federation Manuel Burga, one of three defendants in the FIFA corruption trial, leaves the United States Federal Court in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., December 22, 2017. REUTERS/Stephen Yang
December 26, 2017
(Reuters) – Former Peru soccer federation president, Manuel Burga, was found not guilty on Tuesday of racketeering conspiracy by a U.S. jury in New York.
Burga was charged along with Juan Angel Napout, the former president of the South American soccer governing body CONMEBOL and Paraguay’s soccer federation, and Jose Maria Marin, former president of Brazil’ soccer federation, with taking bribes in exchange for the award of valuable marketing and media rights to international soccer matches.
Napout and Marin were both convicted on several counts on Friday, following a five-week trial in federal court in Brooklyn.
(Reporting by Anthony Lin; Editing by Bernadette Baum)