Former FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer told a federal judge that he helped to “facilitate” a bribe in connection with selecting France to host the 1998 World Cup and “agreed to accept bribes” to bring the tournament to South Africa in 2010.
The admissions were included in a transcript of Blazer’s guilty plea to fraud and racketeering charges in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn in November 2013. The 40-page document was unsealed Wednesday. Brief portions were redacted.
“Among other things, I agreed with other persons in or around 1992 to facilitate the acceptance of a bribe in conjunction with the selection of the host nation for the 1998 World Cup,” Blazer told the judge. “Beginning in or about 1993 and continuing through the early 2000s, I and others agreed to accept bribes and kickbacks in conjunction with the broadcast and other rights to the 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2003 Gold Cups.
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