Former head of Peru soccer body extradited to U.S. in bribe case

By Nate Raymond NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - A former head of the Peruvian soccer federation is expected to appear in court on Friday after being extradited from Peru to face U.S. charges stemming from a wide-ranging bribery investigation involving FIFA, the sport's world governing body. Manuel Burga, who led the Peruvian Football Federation from 2002 to 2014, is expected to be arraigned later on Friday in federal court in Brooklyn, a spokeswoman for the prosecution said. Burga's extradition was approved by Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in a resolution published on Nov. 24 in the official gazette, El Peruano, five months after a Peruvian court found that the U.S. request was substantiated. A lawyer for Burga, who at the time of his indictment in December 2015 was also a member of the FIFA development committee, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Burga is one of 42 people and entities charged as part of a U.S. investigation that upended Zurich-based FIFA and the soccer world. To date, 19 people and two companies have pleaded guilty in connection with the probe. Prosecutors said the defendants engaged in more than $200 million in bribes and kickbacks that were sought and received by soccer officials for marketing and broadcasting rights to tournaments and matches. According to the indictment, in 2009, Burga and five other presidents of traditionally less-powerful member associations of South American confederation CONMEBOL in 2009 began demanding bribes from an affiliate of an Argentine sports media company. The bribes were in exchange for supporting the affiliate of Torneos y Competencias SA as holding the broadcasting rights to CONMEBOL's premier club team tournament, Copa Libertadores, among other tournaments, the indictment said. It said Burga and other officials also solicited bribes from an entity co-established by Torneos y Competencias in connection with a 2013 contract for the rights to the 2015, 2019, and 2023 Copa America tournaments and the 2016 Copa America Centenario. (Additional reporting by Mitra Taj in Lima; Editing by Alistair Bell)