Webb’s sentence on hold as FIFA case on appeal
(CNS): Almost nine years after Jeffery Webb was arrested along with 13 other football, marketing and media executives in Zurich in the massive FIFA corruption case brought by the US Department of Justice, his sentencing has been postponed yet again. He was due to go before a judge to finalise his case last month, but the hearing did not take place and a new one has not been set. According to the DoJ, there will not be a new date until the appeals relating to the case are over.
“The Court is not scheduling a sentencing date until the appeal of two of Webb’s co-defendants is resolved, since the outcome of the appeal could affect Webb’s case,” a spokesperson stated in email correspondence seen by CNS.
At the time of his arrest in May 2015, Webb was vice president of FIFA and the president of both the Cayman Islands Football Association (CIFA) and CONCACAF. He was convicted in December 2016 after he admitted various racketeering offences and forfeited more than $6.7M as part of his plea. Since then, Webb has been awaiting sentence, which has been adjourned at least 15 times.
Following the conviction, he spent several years on bail and under house arrest at his Atlanta home, where he now resides, despite being wanted by prosecutors in the Cayman Islands in connection with two other fraud cases. These relate to a hospital payment scheme fraud and a CIFA corruption case, both in collusion with his former close friend and business associate, Canover Watson.
However, Webb will not be extradited to the Cayman Islands until the case against him in the United States closes. Given his plea and alleged cooperation, the likelihood of Webb ever going to jail in the US is extremely low. Meanwhile, the one-time local hero has been able to avoid facing justice here at home by delaying his sentencing in the US.
But now Webb may never be given an official punishment in the FIFA fraud. Last Septmeber, a US judge acquitted Hernan Lopez, the former CEO of Fox International Channels and one of Webb’s co-defendants in the FIFA case, as a result of a Supreme Court decision in an unrelated but similar case of wire fraud.
The findings of the judge have shaken the entire legality of the prosecution of all of those involved in the football scandal in the United States. Even though the bribery and corruption surrounding FIFA was exposed, the actual criminality of the bribes involved has been called into question.
The DoJ has appealed and is seeking to reinstate Lopez’s convictions. But if that fails, all of those involved in this case, around 20 individuals who have been convicted, could also appeal their convictions.
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Minor point, but why does CNS insist year after year to keep calling him a Cayman “hero”? By no stretch of the imagination was Webb ever a hero. He was a successful sports administrator. Given his rise in FIFA one could argue that he was a role model maybe, but hero? Not even close. Are all presidents of sports associations considered heroes? Of course not. What’s the reasoning here? Genuinely curious. Why has CNS consistently called him a hero in their reporting over the years?
tell the USA to go and deal with the people thar they paid to host the 94 world cup. they over step their authority, they have no authority over what FIFa do out the USA. tell them to go n deal with the Palestinian situation.
So you don’t want them dealing with FIFA since its outside of the USA but you want them to del with Gaza which by the way is also outside the USA. hmmm.
What about the people that were with Webb when he was arrested will anything happen to them in Cayman?
The freeloaders with him when he was arrested hightailed it back to Cayman quicker than you could say UDP, and within hours of his arrest. They’re just fine now in high office thanks to our unprincipled mob of MPs.
They could at least have stuck around for a day or so to make sure their boy was comfortable in custody..!..wonder why they ran..?
We need to bring Jeff back to run the bakery!
Webb was never a “local hero” to anyone here but his crooked friends. The man was and is a crook pure and simple.
Teflon Jeff! Disgusting, thieving POS!
can’t somebody here please intervene and get him extradited, election season is just around the corner and we could do with a buffer in consistency with candidates.
Soon come…right after the CIFA audit.
Shows how Justice can be perverted,Webb will go Scott free and that’s that.
Justice delayed is Justice denied.
What a joke. He’s guilty just like his partner. Stop trying to leverage them for even bigger fish and just sentence and penalize him fully.
His partner being the UDP gang of enablers who are also guilty of gross misconduct .
the CIGA audit, if conducted by professional accountants would reveal some unsavory facts and names of many who benefitted from the slush fund.
It’s not going to happen tho as too many in high office would be exposed.
Except he has already “served” more time on “house arrest” – he is not even confined to his house! – than his plea bargain agreement. Delaying his sentencing makes no difference to the sentence he will get and there is minimal chance of him going to prison in the US now. So the status quo with him not being sentenced keeps him out of jail in Cayman. Just wait – at some point, when the Cayman authorities decide they can no longer have a reasonable prospect of a conviction because of the passage of time – the sentencing will proceed, he will be released for time served and won’t be deported. Never going to see the inside of a jail cell. Only punishment the surrender of some of his assets to the DoJ.