79-year-old, former FIFA Vice President Jack Warner, has lost an appeal against his extradition from Trinidad and Tobago to the United States in order to face fraud charges.
Warner has been indicted in the US for several offenses including bribery…. And these offenses were alleged to have been committed over a three-decade period.
Warner, who was also president of CONCACAF, the football organizing body in North and Central America and the Caribbean, also allegedly committed crimes including soliciting and accepting bribes in connection with his official duties. He handed himself to police after a warrant was issued for his arrest in 2015 but he was granted bail for 2.5 million Trinidad and Tobago dollars and ordered to give up his passport. He also allegedly accepted a million-dollar bribe from South African officials in return for voting to award them the 2010 World Cup, and allegedly bribed officials with envelopes of cash. Accused of receiving $5 million in bribes – sent via more than two dozen separate wire transfers, from 10 different shell companies to a Caribbean Football Union account he controlled at Republic Bank in Trinidad and Tobago – to vote for Russia to host the 2018 World Cup.
In 2015 he was banned by FIFA from all football-related activities at national and international levels for life, this decision coming after his extradition request by US authorities in July of that year. Warner appealed to the judicial committee of the Privy Council in London after losing a High court challenge, however, a panel of 5 judges dismissed the appeal declaring that his extradition is indeed lawful.
Warner is not the only official to be indicted in the United States, 15 others have been indicted as well.
