Court rules regarding soccer in Trinidad The FIFA VP won’t be extradited by the US

A court in Trinidad and Tobago, the home country of former FIFA vice president Jack Warner, decided Tuesday that Warner will not be extradited to the United States to face bribery charges related to a broad, multi-decade corruption scandal that ensnared some of the top soccer executives.

Warner allegedly accepted millions of dollars in bribes to support Russia as the 2018 World Cup host. He has been accused of corruption since the 1980s, but in 2015, he was permanently barred from the sport.

However, the Caribbean country’s top court said Tuesday that it will not comply with the U.S. extradition request, thus he is likely to get away with it. At home, he has insisted on his innocence and is not facing any accusations.

Warner was a powerful powerbroker for former FIFA chief Sepp Blatter, who served as vice president and chairman of the CONCACAF, which oversees soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The DOJ said Warner belonged to “two generations of soccer officials” who misused their positions for their own benefit. Blatter was exonerated of Swiss corruption accusations earlier this year.

In an oral hearing, Justice Karen Reid stated that she would not send Warner over since the Trump administration had mistreated the rule of law and due process for non-citizens in the United States.

A request for comment from the U.S. Department of Justice was not immediately answered.

In 2013, Warner’s two sons, Daryll and Daryan, entered guilty pleas to their involvement in the conspiracy in the United States. They cooperated with the DOJ investigation, and earlier this year, a federal court decided that they would not be sentenced to more time in jail.