Rafael Esquivel
{{short description|Venezuelan former football administrator|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{family name hatnote|Esquivel|Melo|lang=Spanish}}
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| name = Rafael Esquivel
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| birth_name = Rafael Esquivel Melo
| birth_date = {{Birth based on age as of date|68|2015|05|27}}{{cite news|title=FIFA Corruption Arrests: What We Know So Far|url=http://news.sky.com/story/1491512/fifa-corruption-arrests-what-we-know-so-far|accessdate=27 May 2015|work=SkyNews|date=27 May 2015}}
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| nationality = Venezuelan
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| occupation = former president of the Venezuelan Football Federation
former member of CONMEBOL executive committee
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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 (FVF).
Career and arrest
Esquivel was president of the Venezuelan Football Federation from 1988 to 2015.
Esquivel was arrested in May 2015 in Switzerland to face corruption charges in the United States.{{cite web|last1=Apuzzo|first1=Matt|last2=Schmidt|first2=Michael S.|last3=Rashbaum|first3=William K.|last4=Borden|first4=Sam|title=FIFA Officials Arrested on Corruption Charges; Blatter Isn't Among Them|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/27/sports/soccer/fifa-officials-face-corruption-charges-in-us.html?_r=0|work=New York Times|accessdate=27 May 2015}} He was banned by FIFA Ethics Committee for life.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/08/sports/soccer/how-14-indicted-fifa-officials-currently-stand.html?_r=0 |title=How the 14 Indicted FIFA Defendants Currently Stand |last1=Ruiz |first1=Rebecca R. |date=8 August 2015 |work=The New York Times |access-date=28 June 2016 }}{{Cite web |date=2017-11-21 |title=Three Fifa officials banned from football for life over corruption charges |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/international/fifa-corruption-richard-lai-julio-rocha-rafael-esquivel-banned-for-life-pleaded-guilty-corrupt-scandal-investigation-a8066981.html |access-date=2023-03-07 |website=The Independent |language=en}}
In March 2016, Esquivel was extradited to the US and pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court.{{cite web |url=http://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/football-ex-conmebol-vp-esquivel-pleads-not-guilty-in-us-court-over-fifa-graft |title=Football: Ex-Conmebol VP Esquivel pleads not guilty in US court over Fifa graft scandal |date=9 March 2016 |publisher=The Straits Times |access-date=28 June 2016}} He was released from jail on a US$7 million bond.{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-soccer-fifa-court-idUSKCN0WC2Y1 |title=U.S. judge allows release of Venezuelan ex-soccer official on bond |last1=McDermid |first1=Brendan |last2=Rosenberg |first2=Mica |date=10 March 2016 |publisher=Reuters |access-date=28 June 2016 }}
In popular media
Chilean actor Gonzalo Robles portrayed Esquivel in the 2020 Amazon Prime Video original series El Presidente.
References
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Category:Venezuelan football managers
Category:Venezuelan people imprisoned abroad
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
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