US judge delays Webb's FIFA sentencing

New York (AFP) – A US judge on Thursday delayed until November 18 the sentencing of disgraced FIFA former vice president Jeffrey Webb in the sweeping corruption scandal rocking world soccer.

The 51-year-old from the Cayman Islands was scheduled to become the first defendant sentenced in the FIFA scandal in New York on Friday after pleading guilty to racketeering, conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering.

But in a letter, Webb’s New York lawyer Edward O’Callaghan asked Judge Raymond Dearie on Thursday that the date “be adjourned to November 18 at 10:00 am.”

The letter cited no reason. The judge granted the delay as requested, a court document showed.

Webb was the first former FIFA official to be hauled publicly before court in New York last July. He quietly cut a plea deal four months later, agreeing last November to forfeit more than $6.7 million as part of his sentence.

Last month, the court relaxed the conditions of his house arrest allowing him to travel up to 50 miles (80 kilometers) from his home in Loganville, Georgia, not just 20 miles, to run errands and help care for his infant son.

He was confined to house arrest on a $10 million bond but has infuriated FIFA’s lawyers by keeping up a millionaire lifestyle quaffing champagne, gambling and partying while living at home.

US prosecutors in New York have indicted 40 football and sports marketing executives over allegedly receiving tens of millions of bribes and kickbacks in the largest corruption scandal in the history of soccer.