Rafael Esquivel Melo (born 1946/1947) is a Venezuelan former football administrator. He was a member of CONMEBOL executive committee and president of the

Venezuelan Football Federation The Venezuelan Football Federation ( es, link=no, Federación Venezolana de Fútbol or FVF) is the governing body of football in Venezuela. It was founded in 1925 and affiliated in 1952. It is a member of CONMEBOL as well as FIFA, and is in c ...

(FVF).

Career and arrest

Esquivel was president of the

from 1988 to 2015. Esquivel was arrested in May 2015 in Switzerland to face

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

charges in the United States. He was banned by

FIFA Ethics Committee The FIFA Ethics Committee is one of FIFA's three judicial bodies. It is organized in two chambers, the ''Investigatory Chamber'' and the ''Adjudicatory Chamber''. Its duties are regulated by several official documents, most importantly the ''FIFA ...

. In March 2016, Esquivel was extradited to the US and pleaded not guilty in

Brooklyn Federal Court The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (in case citations, E.D.N.Y.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction spans five counties in New York State: the four Long Island counties of Nassau, ...

. He was released from jail on a US$7 million bond.

In popular media

Chilean actor

Gonzalo Robles Gonzalo Eduardo Robles García (Santiago, April 22, 1952), is a Chilean film, theater and television actor and comedian. Biography Robles studied at Colegio San Ignacio. Later he started a career in Civil Construction at the Pontificia Unive ...

portrayed Esquivel in the 2020

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service p ...

original series '' El Presidente''.

References

1940s births Living people Venezuelan football managers FIFA officials Venezuelan people imprisoned abroad {{Venezuela-business-bio-stub