Ex-Fox execs go on trial in soccer TV rights bribery case
NEW YORK (AP) — Two former Fox executives went on trial Tuesday, accused of bribing South American soccer officials for TV rights to one of the continent’s biggest annual tournaments and using information gathered in the process to help the network’s winning World Cup broadcast bid. It's the latest case to go to court in the sprawling FIFA corruption scandal.
Hernan Lopez and Carlos Martinez are charged with paying bribes and kickbacks to South American Football Confederation officials to broadcast the Copa Libertadores, an annual club tournament akin to the Champions League in Europe, through a partnership with Torneos y Competencias, an Argentine production and marketing company.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor Zapana told jurors in an opening statement that the alleged bribes — totaling millions of dollars — fueled a system of secret, no-bid, below-market contracts and “allowed disloyal soccer executives to live a life of luxury, to buy Chanel, to buy Hermes," referencing two popular luxury brands.
“Everyone won except for the game of soccer,” Zapana said at the trial in Brooklyn federal court, which is expected to last at least a month.
Prosecutors allege the payoffs enabled Lopez and Martinez to further Fox’s other soccer interests, including gaining confidential information from a high-ranking FIFA and confederation official about bidding for U.S. broadcast rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
The bribes, Zapana said, helped “expand Fox’s reach.”
Lopez, a native of Argentina, is the former chief executive of Fox International Channels. He left the company in 2016 to start the podcasting company Wondery. Martinez, a native of Mexico, is the former president of Fox International’s Latin America affiliate.
Fox has denied any involvement in bribery. The company...