Oct. 26 (UPI) — A U.S. federal judge sentenced a former Guatemalan judge to eight months in prison Wednesday for his role in a corruption scandal involving FIFA, the official governing body of international soccer.
Hector Trujillo, the former president of Guatemala’s soccer association, pleaded guilty in June to charges of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy related to laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for media and marketing rights to the Guatemala soccer team’s qualifier matches, The New York Times reported.
In addition to his eight-month sentence, Trujillo, a former constitutional judge in Guatemala, will also have to pay back $415,000 to his country’s soccer association.
“He ended up essentially robbing from them,” said Judge Pamela K. Chen of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. “Given how far this money could have gone in Guatemala makes it all the more serious.”
Trujillo, 64, was facing up to 20 years in prison on each charge.
Trujillo is one of 40 soccer and marketing executives indicted by U.S. prosecutors after a 2015 investigation into FIFA revealed an international scandal involving bribery and kickbacks throughout the soccer organization amounting to more than $150 million.
Most of the bribes revolved around regional tournaments and World Cup qualifying games, BBC News reported.
Trujillo is the first FIFA official to be sentenced in the case.
