Cayman Islands soccer official pleads guilty to money laundering

May 25, 2017 By Paul Frangipane Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Hon. Pamela K. Chen. Eagle file photo by Rob Abruzzese

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After originally pleading not guilty to a money laundering conspiracy, an official of the Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) pleaded guilty on Wednesday to transferring millions of dollars in bribes to the former FIFA vice president.

U.K. native Costas Takkas pleaded guilty to receiving and transferring money to bribe former Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) president and Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) vice president Jeffrey Webb into using his power in exchange for marketing rights. Takkas was arrested in a Zurich, Switzerland hotel raid.

“I consciously avoided knowing that these companies were giving Mr. Webb money in order to influence his actions as a football official,” Takkas, 60, said with a straight face in court.

Webb accepted a $3 million bribe in exchange for a contract giving sports marketing companies, Traffic USA and Media World, the media and marketing rights to home World Cup qualifier matches. Webb, Takkas and other associates, arranged for Traffic USA to secretly funnel half of Webb’s money through front companies and accounts controlled by Takkas. Takkas then distributed the $1.5 million back to Webb. Media World paid around $500,000 of its share through a fake transition with a false invoice, to Takkas’ accounts in and outside of the United States.

Webb pleaded guilty to racketeering charges on Nov. 23, 2015 and Takkas originally pleaded not guilty on March 22, 2016.

Takkas’ attorney, Gordon Mehler, said that Takkas was allowed to plea to only one count on the 47-count indictment because of his minor role in the scheme.

“He is a very minor figure in this very major case,” Mehler said. “He is the first one in this whole case that has been permitted not to plea for Rico.”

While Takkas faces a maximum of 20 years in prison with three years’ supervised release and a $500,000 fine, Prosecutor Kristin Mace suggested Takkas be sentenced to about four years in prison.

Mehler did not argue, but hopes for a lesser sentence. “Obviously we hope that the court will go below it,” Mehler said with a sigh.

After his sentence, he will be deported back to the U.K.

Takkas, among the other six soccer officials, was arrested in May 2015 in a Zurich, Switzerland hotel raid. He was extradited to New York on March 22, 2016. While in custody in Switzerland, he served about 10 months in solitary confinement.

He is set for sentencing on Sept. 19 at 1 p.m. in front of Judge Pamela Chen.