FIFA Match Agent, Specific Crime: Bribes, California 2020

FIFA match agent Miguel Trujillo, a Florida-based soccer consultant, pleaded guilty to corruption charges in a Brooklyn federal court today for his role in a massive bribery scheme involving high-ranking officials of FIFA, CONCACAF, and four soccer federations in Central America and the Caribbean.

Trujillo, a 65-year-old citizen of Colombia and U.S. legal permanent resident, was a match agent licensed by FIFA to negotiate and arrange soccer matches between FIFA member associations. According to the criminal information to which he pleaded guilty, Trujillo paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to soccer officials in furtherance of multiple schemes involving media and marketing contracts and international friendly matches.

The schemes, which began in approximately 2008, involved Trujillo acting on behalf of multiple sports marketing companies and his own soccer business. The total amount of bribes paid by Trujillo is not specified in the plea agreement.

Trujillo also pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return under penalty of perjury and agreed to forfeit $495,000. The guilty plea was announced by Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Diego G. Rodriguez, Assistant Director-in-Charge, FBI, New York Field Office; and Acting Special Agent in Charge Anthony J. Orlando, IRS Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles Field Office.

The investigation into corruption in international soccer is ongoing and being led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the FBI New York Field Office, and the IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office. The prosecutors in Brooklyn are receiving considerable assistance from attorneys in various parts of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in Washington, D.C., including the Office of International Affairs, the Organized Crime and Gang Section, the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, and the Fraud Section, as well as from INTERPOL Washington.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Evan M. Norris, Amanda Hector, Paul Tuchmann, Nadia Shihata, Keith D. Edelman, and Brian D. Morris of the Eastern District of New York are in charge of today’s prosecution. The government’s investigation is ongoing.

Trujillo’s case has been assigned the E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 16 CR 108. He faces serious penalties for his crimes and will need to answer to the court for his actions in the coming months.

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