Argentine sport executives admit bribing football officials in FIFA corruption case

Argentine sports marketing executives Hugo Jinkis and his son, Mariano Jinkis, have admitted to paying bribes to international football officials to secure lucrative media and marketing rights, as part of an agreement with US prosecutors to avoid trial.

The pair were charged following a major corruption investigation launched in 2015 that exposed widespread bribery within FIFA and the football confederations in North and South America.

Under a deferred prosecution agreement, US prosecutors will drop fraud charges against the Jinkises after they admitted to participating in a scheme that defrauded FIFA, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL.

They have also agreed to forfeit $50 million as part of the settlement.

According to a court filing, the two men “agreed to pay and did pay tens of millions of dollars in commercial bribes” to football executives in exchange for support in securing media and marketing rights to major international tournaments.

The Jinkises, who co-owned Argentine sports marketing company Full Play, allegedly used the payments to obtain rights to broadcast competitions including FIFA World Cup qualifiers and the Copa América.

The case formed part of the wider FIFA corruption scandal that erupted in 2015 and led to the arrest and prosecution of several football officials.

The US investigation included raids on FIFA officials in Zurich and resulted in multiple arrests, guilty pleas and convictions involving football administrators and business executives.

The latest agreement brings the long-running legal case against the Jinkises closer to a conclusion, although their admission adds to the record of corruption uncovered within international football’s commercial operations.