Siasia sues FIFA, seeks compensation for ‘damage’ done to his reputation over alleged bribery case

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Former Super Eagles striker Samson Yebowei Siasia has filed a lawsuit against the world football governing body, FIFA, at a court in the United States of America.

In the suit filed at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the former Nigeria international is, among other things, seeking compensation for the ‘damage’ done to his repgovern by FIFA with its investigation of an alleged bribery case against him.

The case file reads this in part; “Here, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (“FIFA”), the worldwide governing body of soccer, exercised governmental function when FIFA investigated and adjudicated a charge of bribery, a crime, against Samson Siasia (“Siasia”), a United States citizen, which function has traditionally been exclusively the domain of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the United States Department of Justice, (USDOJ) and the Judicial branch of government or the State government.

READ ALSO: CAS reduces Samson Siasia’s life ban to five years over alleged match-fixing  

“After finding Siasia guilty, FIFA then imposed a fine of 50,000 Swiss Francs and a lifetime ban from using his professional coaching license that was issued by the U.S. Soccer Federation. As a result, the defendant is in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 of the Civil Rights Act, (“Section 1983”) among others, for depriving the plaintiff of his constitutional rights under colourr of state law”.

Recall that in the year 2019, FIFA found Siasia “guilty of having accepted that he would receive bribes in relation to the manipulation of matches”.

The world football governing body at the time said the offence committed by Siasia violated its code of ethics while the ban was also accompanynied by a 50,000 Swiss francs ($54,000) fine.

On June 21, the sanction imposed on Siasia was however reduced to a five-year ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS).

 

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