FIFA has suspended its employee after being arrested for sexually seducing a minor while on a work trip in Miami.
The Miami Herald reported that Jack Edward Coles was detained by federal agents from a Homeland Security Investigation at a hotel near FIFA’s office in the Coral Gables area on Friday.
Coles, 39, is said to have met the 14-year-old boy through a man’s dating app last October, and was told he tried to meet him again last week. The boy reportedly reportedly had a FIFA staff member 16 years old and later contacted a federal investigator.
Prison Records Thursday’s records list Coles as an inmate at a federal jail in Miami.
“FIFA is aware of the ongoing legal process in Miami,” said the FIFA statement seen by the Associated Press. “The suspicious crime is serious and it is a personal issue that has no connection to his work at FIFA.
“Individuals were immediately suspended from all obligations to further notice. FIFA has no further comment at this stage.”
Coles is the project leader of FIFA Sound and is the division that organizes music for soccer body events and broadcasts around the world.
FIFA opened a US base at Coral Gables in 2023 ahead of two major tournaments in the country. The legal department has also been moved from its headquarters in Zurich.
This report uses information from the Associated Press.
