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FIFA's ethics committee bans Chuck Blazer from football for life
Former FIFA executive member Chuck Blazer attends the 61st FIFA congress at the Hallenstadion in Zurich, June 1, 2011. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
09/07/2015
ZURICH (Reuters) - Former FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer was banned for life from all football activities on Thursday by the sport's governing body, which is engulfed in a scandal over alleged corruption.
Blazer, who was also general secretary of CONCACAF, which governs the sport in North and Central America and the Caribbean, was banned by FIFA's ethics committee, which said its decision was based on investigations in response to facts presented by U.S. prosecutors.
Blazer secretly pleaded guilty in 2013 to various bribery and financial offences and is cooperating with authorities, according to a plea deal unsealed by U.S. prosecutors last month.
"Mr Blazer committed many and various acts of misconduct continuously and repeatedly during his time as an official in different high-ranking and influential positions at FIFA and CONCACAF," said the FIFA statement.
"In his positions as a football official, he was a key player in schemes involving the offer, acceptance, payment and receipt of undisclosed and illegal payments, bribes and kickbacks as well as other money-making schemes."
Blazer was found to have breached FIFA rules on loyalty, confidentiality, duty of disclosure, conflicts of interest, offering and accepting gifts and bribery and corruption.
(Reporting by Joshua Franklin; Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Alison Williams)
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