FIFA Scandal Spreads as Asia Official Admits Taking Bribes
- Guam soccer head agrees to repay $1.1 million, faces prison
- Says he worked ‘both sides’ in rivalry to influence election
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The first Asian soccer official to be convicted in the FIFA corruption scandal, a member of a committee that oversaw ethics compliance, told a U.S. judge he accepted about $1 million in bribes, including $100,000 from the former president of the Asian Football Confederation.
Guam Football Association President Richard Lai, a U.S. citizen who’s also on the Asian confederation’s executive board, implicated that group’s ex-president, Mohamed Bin Hammam, and two other Asian soccer officials during his guilty plea Thursday, according to records in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.