FIFA ethics investigator recommends life ban for ex-VP Webb

ZURICH (Reuters) - FIFA's chief ethics investigator has recommended a life ban for Jeffrey Webb, a former vice-president of the global football body who has pleaded guilty in the United States to offences linked to racketeering, fraud and money laundering.

(Reuters)

Webb, one of seven people arrested in Zurich last year before FIFA's annual Congress, is also ex-president of the confederation covering North and Central America and the Caribbean.

He is one of 41 individuals and entities indicted following the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into football corruption.

FIFA's ethics investigators, led by Swiss lawyer Cornel Borbely, have also conducted their own investigation into the conduct of Webb, who is from the Cayman Islands.

"The final report was transmitted to the (ethics committee) adjudicatory chamber on 26 April 2016, with a recommended sanction of a lifelong ban from all football-related activities," FIFA's ethics committee said in a statement on Wednesday.

Webb will now be invited to submit his version of the case to chief ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, whose chamber will decide on sanctions.

(Reporting by Brian Homewood Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)