FINALLY, SENTENCING OF MAJOR FIFA DEFENDANT JEFFREY WEBB APPROACHES, AFTER EIGHT YEARS OF DELAYS AND PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT

He may have pled guilty way back in 2015, but JEFFREY WEBB, one of the principal defendants in the massive FIFA corruption case is finally scheduled to be sentenced on August 8, 2023*. Webb, who is obviously a significant Cooperating Individual, who rendered assistance with information resulting in  indictments against several other defendants in the case, and/or their decision to plead guilty, due to his expected testimony against any of them foolish enough to go to trial, has lived a  normal, and some might say privileged, life while under a loose form of House Arrest (Home Confinement), at one of the homes he allegedly purchased in the United States with the Proceeds of Crime. 

Had he not been charged, Webb was expected to be a major candidate for president of FIFA. The maddening thing is that Webb, a Caymanian reportedly married to an Atlanta doctor, has had his incarceration delayed, while he remains a wanted man on other criminal charged in Grand Cayman, in a case where others have already faced justice and prison terms. He has been able to work the system to his advantage, solely because of his reputed value as a witness. Stories of lavish parties at his Georgia mansion certainly do not serve as a deterrent of other individuals contemplating acts of corruption.

This is what House Arrest looks like?

When law enforcement gives favorable treatment to guilty defendants, irrespective of their level of  culpability, solely because they serve a purpose against yet others in a case, the criminal justice system fails. Will he now receive only a nominal sentence, instead of that which he deserves, or will he be assured of a Rule 35 Sentence Reduction, meted out quietly post-incarceration, and out of the public eye, to be released without paying the full price for his sins and transgressions ? And will he be assisted in evading justice in the Cayman Islands case? We cannot say, but we suspect that he will continue to game the system that is supposed to be designed to deter others through incarceration of the guilty.

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*Nov 4, 2022

ORDER granting 1838 Motion to Continue Sentencing as to Jeffrey Webb: Sentencing is adjourned to 8/8/2023 at 10 a.m. in Courtroom 4F North. Ordered by Judge Pamela K. Chen on 11/4/2022. (FG)

Order on Motion to Continue Sentencing.