BROOKLYN, NY – Costas Takkas, 60, a former soccer official with ties to the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF), admitted today to laundering millions of dollars in bribes. The guilty plea, entered in federal court in Brooklyn, implicates high-ranking officials in a sprawling corruption scheme that has rocked the world of international soccer.
Takkas, formerly the general secretary of the Cayman Islands soccer federation and an attaché to disgraced CONCACAF president and FIFA vice president Jeffrey Webb, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charge stems from a scheme to funnel a $3 million bribe – accepted by Webb – through shell companies and accounts controlled by Takkas. If convicted at sentencing, Takkas faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Court filings reveal Webb accepted the hefty bribe in exchange for leveraging his influence to secure media and marketing rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup qualifier matches played by Caribbean Football Union teams. Traffic USA, a sports marketing company, secretly funneled $1.5 million of the bribe through Takkas’s accounts at Webb’s direction. A second company, Media World, also participated, paying approximately $500,000 through a fraudulent invoice to Takkas-controlled accounts.
This guilty plea follows Webb’s own admission of guilt to racketeering conspiracy and other offenses in November 2015. During his plea, Webb specifically confessed to accepting the $3 million bribe detailed in today’s proceedings. The investigation, spearheaded by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the FBI New York Field Office, and the IRS Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles Field Office, is a relentless pursuit of corruption within international soccer’s highest echelons.
Acting United States Attorney Bridget M. Rohde, Assistant Director in Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr. of the FBI, and Special Agent in Charge R. Damon Rowe of IRS-CI announced the guilty plea. The prosecution team, led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Tuchmann, Samuel P. Nitze, M. Kristin Mace, and Keith D. Edelman, is receiving support from various Justice Department divisions and INTERPOL Washington. The case is docket number 15 CR 252 (PKC) before Judge Pamela K. Chen.
The government stresses that this investigation remains ongoing, signaling further potential indictments and revelations in this complex case of international soccer corruption. The United Kingdom national’s actions have exposed a deep rot within the beautiful game, and the Grimy Times will continue to follow this story as it develops.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Public Corruption
- Source: Official Source ↗
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