A U.S. bribery prosecution that has scandalized soccer’s governing body took another step forward Tuesday, with the former president of Honduras and a former FIFA vice president pleading not guilty at their first court appearance and authorities announcing that two other defendants would be extradited to face charges as well.

    Former president Rafael Callejas, a current member of FIFA’s television and marketing committee, was ordered held without bail at a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn. A judge agreed to release former FIFA vice president Juan Angel Napout on US$20 million bond with various restrictions, including electronic monitoring and home detention.

    Both men are facing racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud charges for their alleged roles in a bribery scheme involving lucrative broadcasting and hosting rights for the World Cup and soccer’s other biggest events. Their lawyers left the courtroom on Tuesday without speaking to reporters.

    Callejas’ appearance came after Honduras officials say he decided to travel to the United States on the advice of his lawyers. Napout, a former president of the South American confederation from Paraguay, had consented to extradition from Switzerland, where he was arrested Dec. 3.

    The two were among 16 new defendants, most from Central and South America, named in a revised indictment that was unsealed earlier this month. U.S. prosecutors charged 14 others, including seven top FIFA officials arrested at Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich, in May.

    On Tuesday, authorities announced that two of the original 14 — Nicolas Leoz, another former head of the South American soccer confederation and Eduardo Li, former head of the Costa Rican football federation — would be extradited to the United States.

    The indictment alleges that in 2012 a marketing firm wired US$500,000 to a Panama bank account so it could be paid as bribes to Callejas and another soccer official in exchange for broadcasting rights to qualifier matches for the 2022 World Cup. (SD-Agencies)