Swiss authorities have revealed that one of the seven FIFA officials arrested in the corruption scandal has agreed to be extradited to the USA from Switzerland.
[ MORE: De Gea to stay at United? ]
Reports claim that the vice president of FIFA and the president of CONCACAF, Jeffrey Webb, is the main who has been returned to the U.S. but Swiss officials did not name the man.
In a statement the Federal Office of Justice confirmed that “he was handed over to a three-man U.S. police escort in Zurich who accompanied him on the flight to New York.”
The official agreed last week to be extradited, unlike six others who are all fighting extradition to the United States of America. The one official who arrived in the U.S. on Wednesday and is expected to appear at the Federal Court.
Webb, 50, hails from the Cayman Islands and has been suspended from soccer activities after the allegations were made public. He has been accused of being involved in bribery, corruption and racketeering at FIFA by the U.S. Department of Justice who set up a morning raid at a Zurich hotel on May 27 along with Swiss officials. 14 individuals have been indicted in total, nine of them FIFA officials, while another four individuals have had their guilty pleas unsealed.
It is alleged that over $150 million of bribes were paid over a 24-year period in a racketeering conspiracy. The corrupt dealings are linked to the selling of broadcast and marketing rights to the World Cup, continental championships in North and South America and regional club tournaments.
Two days after these allegations were announced by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on May 27, FIFA’s president Sepp Blatter was voted in for a fifth-straight four-year term in charge but on June 2 he announced he will resign from his position in the coming months under growing pressure from sponsors and soccer officials.