Three soccer officials banned for life for taking bribes

ZURICH, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Three soccer officials have been banned by FIFA for life for taking bribes, it was announced by FIFA on Tuesday.

FIFA said the three officials are former FIFA audit committee member Richard Lai of Guam and two former soccer federation presidents Julio Rocha of Nicaragua and Rafael Esquivel of Venezuela.

FIFA said the officials were arrested in Zurich in May 2015 and later extradited to the United States.

FIFA said in a statement that it imposed "appropriate fines in relation to the amounts of the bribes that they have admitted having taken."