CONCACAF Bans 7 Officials After Latest FIFA Indictments

Seven CONCACAF officials were indicted on charges of wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering by the United States Department of Justice on Thursday, and the regional soccer governing body moved to ban those members Friday.

In a statement, CONCACAF announced it has provisionally banned President Alfredo Hawit (Honduras), Ariel Alvarado (Panama), Brayan Jimenez (Guatemala), Hector Trujillo (Guatemala), Rafael Callejas (Honduras), Rafael Salguero (Guatemala) and Reynaldo Vasquez (El Salvador) "from all football-related activities on a national and international level within the CONCACAF region."

The bans are effective immediately as the DOJ continues its investigation.

United States Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch addressed the indictments Thursday:

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The Department of Justice is committed to ending the rampant corruption we have alleged amidst the leadership of international soccer – not only because of the scale of the schemes, or the brazenness and breadth of the operation required to sustain such corruption, but also because of the affront to international principles that this behavior represents. The message from this announcement should be clear to every culpable individual who remains in the shadows, hoping to evade our investigation: You will not wait us out. You will not escape our focus.

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According to the New York Times, a United States-led investigation into corruption throughout FIFA resulted in the arrests of several top soccer officials in Switzerland early Thursday morning. The investigation kicked into high gear in May with a first round of arrests at a Swiss hotel.