Peru's ex-soccer official accused of threatening witness in U.S. trial
NOVEMBER 15, 2017 / 6:25 PM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO
Brendan Pierson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Wednesday ordered that a former Peruvian soccer official on trial for corruption in Brooklyn be put under house arrest after prosecutors said he made a threatening gesture at a prosecution witness.
After jurors left for the day, a prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Mace, told U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen that Manuel Burga, former president of Peru’s soccer federation, made a “slicing motion across his throat” while looking at Alejandro Burzaco. The witness is testifying for prosecutors in the first trial to emerge from the United States’ sweeping investigation of bribery in international soccer.
Mace said Burga made the gesture once on Tuesday and again on Wednesday morning. The second time, she said, Burzaco, the former head of Argentine sports marketing company Torneos y Competencias, broke down in tears.
Burga’s lawyer, Bruce Udolf, denied the claim.
”This is a gentle, meek, timid man,“ he said of Burga. ”I never saw any indication that he was making any gesture.
More:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-fifa-witness/perus-ex-soccer-official-accused-of-threatening-witness-in-u-s-trial-idUKKBN1DG01L?rpc=401&
