FIFA executive member Chuck Blazer attends the 61st FIFA congress at the Hallenstadion in Zurich June 1, 2011.
Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann
<span id="articleText"> <span id="midArticle_start"/> The U.S. judge presiding over the corruption cases of indicted soccer officials has ordered prosecutors to unseal the plea agreement between former FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer and the U.S. government.
<span id="midArticle_0"/>Media outlets last week called for the plea agreement to be unsealed in the wake of the indictments of 14 soccer and media executives for corruption but U.S. authorities have opposed the move.
<span id="midArticle_1"/>"Because the court concludes that the government
<span id="midArticle_2"/>has not met its high burden of establishing that continued sealing is necessary to prevent a substantial probability of prejudice to a compelling government interest, the applications to unseal the agreement are granted," U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie said in a transcript of the court opinion.
<span id="midArticle_3"/>Dearie stayed his order until Monday, giving prosecutors time to unseal the agreement or appeal his decision.
<span id="midArticle_4"/> <span class="first-article-divide"/>The judge also gave the government until Friday to apply to redact any portion of the agreement.
<span id="midArticle_5"/>Blazer, the former general secretary of CONCACAF, soccer’s governing body in North and Central America and the Caribbean, secretly pleaded guilty to 10 criminal counts in New York in 2013 as part of an agreement with U.S. prosecutors, according to a transcript of the hearing released last week.
<span id="midArticle_6"/> <span class="second-article-divide"/>Blazer told Dearie in 2013 that he and other FIFA officials took bribes in connection with the 1998 and 2010 World Cups among other tournaments.
<span id="midArticle_7"/>According to U.S. officials, Blazer’s cooperation has helped build the sprawling corruption case that has engulfed FIFA and led the governing body's president Sepp Blatter to announce his resignation only days after winning re-election for a fifth term.
<span id="midArticle_8"/> <span class="third-article-divide"/>Blazer, 70, is one of four defendants in the case who pleaded guilty in secret and agreed to assist U.S. investigators.
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<span id="midArticle_10"/> (Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Nick Mulvenney)
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