Napout, 60, a Paraguayan who was president of CONMEBOL, the governing body for South America’s soccer, as well as a vice president of FIFA, international football’s governing association, was sentenced to nine years in prison on Wednesday after being convicted by a US jury of getting US$3.4 million (RM14 million) in bribes and soliciting almost US$25 million (RM103 million).
In announcing the sentence in aBrooklyn, New York, federal court, US District Judge Pamela Chen said she had a hard time reconciling the portrait of Napout painted by his lawyers, family, and friends, as a man of generosity and good character with the evidence she’d seen at trial.
“Napout had a public face, one that is reflected in all the letters I’ve seen,” Chen said. “But then there was this hidden character he had, this hidden life.”
Prosecutors sought a sentence of 20 years.
“I know America is a compassionate country,” Napout told the judge before the sentence was handed down. “I beg you for your mercy.”
Napout portrayed himself publicly as an agent of reform who tried to change CONMEBOL, which was plagued by years of corruption. But prosecutors argued that as soon as he joined the Paraguayan soccer association in 2010, Napout began taking bribes and collected perks such as a US$40,000 (RM170,000) seaside vacation condominium and more than US$10,000 (RM41,000) worth of tickets to a Paul McCartney concert.
“He entered sports to make money when he had more than enough,” prosecutor Kristin Mace said. “Napout led by example at CONMEBOL and FIFA; he led colleagues and subordinates to believe that bribe-taking was common practice.”
Napout was convicted in December of wire fraud and racketeering conspiracy by a federal jury in Brooklyn after a seven-week trial. He was cleared of money-laundering charges.
His lawyers argued the evidence in his trial was just a small snapshot of his life. While they acknowledged that he was born into a wealthy family – one friend described it as a “golden cradle” – they said Napout spent his life helping those in need.
“One act cannot erase a lifetime of good work,” Napout’s lawyer Silvia Piñera-Vazquez said.
The five-hour sentencing hearing included an appeal from Napout’s wife, Karin Forster, who pleaded, “Please, Your Honour, give mercy and impose a sentence that allows him to return,” to Paraguay.
“Clearly a message has to be sent to others that this behavior will be met with serious consequences,” she said. “You cannot steal millions in bribes from these organisations and go unpunished.”
Prosecutors at the trial called almost 30 witnesses, including former sports-marketing executives who gave jurors an inside look into FIFA’s seamier side.
Alejandro Burzaco, chief of sports-marketing company Torneos y Competencias SA, testified he paid at least 30 football bosses more than US$160 million (RM660 million) to secure broadcasting rights to South American tournaments and World Cup matches in 2026 and 2030. A former Citigroup Inc. banker, Burzaco testified that Napout was among at least six football officials who accepted payoffs.
José Hawilla, the founder of Traffic Sports International Inc. who was caught lying to the US in 2013, agreed to secretly record conversations for the Federal Bureau of Investigation for more than a year. Hawilla described paying bribes to multiple officials, dating to the 1990s.