ZURICH (Reuters) – The head of North American soccer’s governing body CONCACAF has been fired following the FBI investigation into corruption allegations at FIFA, a source and his lawyer said.
“Enrique Sanz was terminated from his employment with CONCACAF this week,” a source close to the confederation said. Sanz’s lawyer, Joseph DeMaria, confirmed Colombia-born Sanz had been dismissed.
The regional body for North and Central America and the Caribbean had put Sanz on “indefinite leave” following the indictment of the body’s president Jeffrey Webb in May and he had been “provisionally suspended” from all football-related activities by FIFA in June.
Sanz’s lawyer told Reuters: “I received a letter earlier this week from outside counsel for CONCACAF informing me that Mr. Sanz was being terminated effective August 3.”
Sanz is the second CONCACAF general secretary to depart after a corruption scandal. His predecessor Chuck Blazer, who held the position from 1990 until 2011, was banned from football for life by FIFA last month after he was indicted and pleaded guilty to charges including accepting bribes and kickbacks.
Through a 2013 U.S. plea agreement, Blazer become a cooperating witness in the U.S. probe, which has engulfed FIFA and pressured the governing body’s president, Sepp Blatter, to step down.
Sanz has not been indicted by the Department of Justice but the indictment issued by federal prosecutors in May said that “Co-Conspirator #4” was appointed CONCACAF’s general secretary in July 2012, after serving as vice president of Traffic USA, a sports marketing company – biographical detail which matches Sanz.
Traffic Sports and CONCACAF feature heavily in the indictment which includes reference to several television rights deals and allegations of kick-backs and bribes.
Traffic Sports USA’s President Aaron Davidson was among the 14 soccer officials and executives who were indicted in late May on bribery, money laundering and wire fraud charges involving more than $150 million in payments.
In July, CONCACAF announced that it had ended it’s “corporate partnership” with Traffic Sports.
