FIFA Match Agent Pleads Guilty To Corruption Charges

Earlier today in federal court in Brooklyn, Miguel Trujillo, a FIFA match agent and soccer consultant, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud conspiracy in connection with his participation in multiple schemes to bribe soccer officials.  Trujillo also pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return under penalty of perjury and agreed to forfeit $495,000.  Today’s plea proceeding took place before United States District Judge Raymond J. Dearie.

The guilty plea was announced by Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Diego G. Rodriguez, Assistant Director-in-Charge, FBI, New York Field Office; and Acting Special Agent in Charge Anthony J. Orlando, IRS Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles Field Office.

As alleged in the criminal information to which he pleaded guilty, Trujillo, a citizen of Colombia and a U.S. legal permanent resident, was a Florida-based soccer consultant and a match agent licensed by FIFA to negotiate and arrange soccer matches between FIFA member associations.  Starting in approximately 2008 and acting variously on behalf of multiple sports marketing companies and his own soccer business, Trujillo paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to high-ranking officials of FIFA, CONCACAF, and four soccer federations in Central America and the Caribbean in furtherance of multiple schemes involving media and marketing contracts and international friendly matches.

The guilty plea announced today is part of an investigation into corruption in international soccer being led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the FBI New York Field Office, and the IRS-CI Los Angeles Field Office.  The prosecutors in Brooklyn are receiving considerable assistance from attorneys in various parts of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in Washington, D.C., including the Office of International Affairs, the Organized Crime and Gang Section, the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, and the Fraud Section, as well as from INTERPOL Washington. 

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Evan M. Norris, Amanda Hector, Paul Tuchmann, Nadia Shihata, Keith D. Edelman, and Brian D. Morris of the Eastern District of New York are in charge of today’s prosecution.

The government’s investigation is ongoing.

The Defendant:

MIGUEL TRUJILLO
Age:  65
Nationality:  Colombia

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 16 CR 108