ASUNCION, (Reuters) – The United States has sent Paraguay an extradition request for Nicolas Leoz, the former president of South America’s soccer confederation, who was arrested on suspicion of racketeering in a corruption probe, Paraguay’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
Leoz, 86, has been under house arrest since June 1 after he and 13 other international soccer officials and sports media and marketing executives, including several from soccer’s governing body FIFA, were hit with U.S. charges involving more than $150 million in bribes.
“We have received the documentation from the U.S. Embassy and have forwarded it to the Supreme Court,” Juana Nunez, the ministry’s liaison with Paraguay’s justice system, told Reuters.
An attorney for Leoz previously said that his client was innocent and that he had been surprised by the charges.
“There is no deadline by which the court must decide on the request,” Nunez said.
More than 100 countries, including Paraguay, Argentina and Trinidad, which all have nationals caught up in the probe, have extradition treaties with the United States.
