Ex-sports marketing exec to plead guilty in FIFA bribery scandal
A Miami-area former sports marketing executive is scheduled to plead guilty Thursday to all or part of his role in the Fédération Internationale de Football Association scandal that rocked the soccer world when it was unveiled last year.
Aaron Davidson, former president of Miami-based multinational sports marketing Traffic Sports USA, was first charged for his role in an alleged $200 million FIFA-related bribe and kickback scheme. Forty-one other people or entities have been charged as part of a U.S. investigation into their roles, and the case has so far resulted in 17 guilty pleas.
A change of plea hearing for Davidson will be held Thursday, according to court records. Davidson previously pleaded not guilty. The hearing will be held in a Brooklyn federal court, according to Reuters , which first reported the story, and the Miami New Times .
Davidson's attorneys did not return a request for comment at the of publicatio.
The FIFA scandal shocked the soccer world last year when a 47-count indictment was unsealed naming FIFA officials – including former and current executives of the Miami Beach-based Central American and Caribbean Association Football – for alleged conspiracy and corruption.
The indictment alleged that the co-conspirators took part in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves by corrupting international soccer with racketeering and bribery. FIFA and its affiliates make money, in part, by selling the commercial rights to soccer tournaments to sports marketing companies. The scheme allegedly involved soccer officials who solicited bribes from sports marketers in exchange for those commercial rights.
"The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic and deep-rooted, both abroad and here in the United States," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at the time. "It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks."
Davidson was charged in a May 20 indictment along with 13 others. According to the indictment, Traffic USA was involved in the sale of media and marketing rights related to soccer in the U.S. and in the CONCACAF region. Traffic USA is part of São Paulo-based sports marketing conglomerate Traffic Group.
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