NEW YORK (AP) - The Latest on the FIFA bribery case (all times local):
12:45 p.m.
An attorney says he knew the former South American soccer official he represents is innocent, but he expected a jury to convict him anyway.
Bruce Udolf says the Brooklyn federal court jury asked a question about wire fraud Friday, convincing him it would convict Manuel Burga. Instead, the jury Tuesday exonerated the 60-year-old former president of Peru’s soccer federation in a case connected to the FIFA (FEE’-fuh) bribery scandal.
Udolf says the outcome left him wanting to do cartwheels outside court.
The attorney ran the Miami federal prosecutor’s public integrity unit for five years in the 1990s. He says his one-man legal defense practice in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, left him feeling he was up against Goliath and all the resources of the federal government.
Burga’s two co-defendants were convicted last week.
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11:20 a.m.
A former South American soccer official acquitted of corruption charges at a U.S. trial says he is finished with the sport and will go back to practicing law.
Manuel Burga, the 60-year-old former president of Peru’s soccer federation, wept when his acquittal was announced Tuesday in the FIFA bribery scandal. His two co-defendants were convicted last week.
After the verdict, he said: “God Bless America.”
Burga says he will go home and resume a career as a lawyer that had been largely left behind for the last 15 years during his career as a soccer executive.
Jose Maria Marin, of Brazil, and Juan Angel Napout, of Paraguay, were convicted Friday on most charges they faced.
Prosecutors accused them of agreeing to take millions of dollars in bribes from marketing firms seeking commercial rights to big soccer tournaments.
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10:45 a.m.
A former South American soccer official has been acquitted of corruption charges at a U.S. trial stemming from the FIFA bribery scandal, after two others were convicted last week.
The jury on Friday had said it was deadlocked on the single racketeering conspiracy charge against Manuel Burga, of Peru. The judge sent them home for the holiday weekend. Jurors reached a not-guilty verdict Tuesday shortly after deliberations resumed.
Jose Maria Marin, of Brazil, and Juan Angel Napout, of Paraguay, were convicted Friday on most charges but acquitted on some lesser charges. The three had been arrested in 2015.
Prosecutors accused them of agreeing to take millions of dollars in bribes from marketing firms seeking commercial rights to big soccer tournaments.
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12:05 a.m.
A New York jury that’s already found two former South American soccer officials guilty of bribery is set to continue deliberations for a third official charged in the FIFA (FEE’-fuh) scandal.
The deliberations resume Tuesday at the U.S. trial of Juan Napout, of Paraguay, Jose Maria Marin, of Brazil, and Manuel Burga, of Peru.
Jurors convicted Napout and Marin on racketeering and other charges on Friday but told a judge they were split on a verdict for Burga on his single racketeering conspiracy charge. The judge instructed them to return to court following the holiday weekend and keep trying.
Prosecutors said the men accepted millions of dollars in bribes from marketing firms vying for lucrative commercial rights to major soccer tournaments controlled by FIFA, the sport’s governing body.
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