Marco Polo del Nero was suspended as president of Brazil’s soccer confederation on Friday, two years after he was indicted in the United States on charges of racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, according to AP.
FIFA said Del Nero was under an ethics investigation and has been banned for 90 days from all soccer activities.
Del Nero fled Zurich in May 2015 when other FIFA colleagues were arrested. They included Jose Maria Marin, who was at the time the head of the Brazilian confederation, known as the CBF.
Marin and two other South American soccer officials have been on trial in New York. Del Nero was indicted on Dec. 2, 2015.
“As many Brazilians that love soccer, my hope is that he is banned for good,” soccer great Romario - now a Brazilian federal senator - wrote on his Facebook page.
“Del Nero has already had his crimes exposed along with those of other crooks like Jose Maria Marin, who is in jail in the United States, and (former CBF president) Ricardo Teixeira who is still on the loose in Brazil. They all used CBF to get illegally rich.”
Del Nero’s lawyers said in a statement that he is going to appeal FIFA’s suspension. They insisted there was no evidence against him.
The attorneys labelled the ethics committee report “funny investigative speculations.” They argued Del Nero took office as CBF president in 2015 and should not be linked to contracts from previous administrations.
FIFA failed to ban Del Nero until Friday. FIFA President Gianni Infantino has been questioned about him in recent days.
Infantino was photographed at last year’s Olympics receiving a Brazilian soccer shirt from Del Nero, and reporters questioned him about Del Nero at the World Cup draw this month in Moscow.