Soccer-Ex-Venezuela soccer chief handed five-year ban after corruption charges

(Reuters) – A former president of Venezuela’s soccer federation (FVF) has been banned by FIFA for five years and fined more than $410,000 after being found guilty of financial corruption, world soccer’s governing body said on Thursday.

Laureano Gonzalez, who led FVF between 2017 and 2020, was sanctioned by for misappropriation and misuse of the federation’s and FIFA’s funds, including through a “fictitious invoicing scheme”.

Gonzalez’s offences were linked to his tenure on a FIFA-appointed management panel called the ‘normalisation committee’. Four other members of the panel were also sanctioned.

Carlos Teran, a current member of FIFA’s disciplinary committee, received a two-year ban and a 10,000 swiss francs ($9,995) fine for approving and accepting “undue pecuniary advantages in the form of additional monthly payments”.

Bernardo Anor Guillamon, Luis Eduardo Fernandez and Gilberto Velazco Ramirez were found guilty of taking monthly payments and conflicts of interest, among other charges.

One-year bans for the three members were each suspended for two-year probation periods. They were also fined 10,000 swiss francs each.

($1 = 1.0005 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)