Argentine Executives Admit to FIFA Bribery Scheme

Hugo Jinkis and Mariano Jinkis, co-owners of the Argentine sports marketing company Full Play, admitted to bribing international soccer officials to secure lucrative media rights. This admission came as they struck a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with US prosecutors, which allows the US to drop fraud charges against them.

The Jinkises were charged following a 2015 investigation that exposed widespread corruption within FIFA and its continental confederations, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL. As part of the agreement, they will forfeit $50 million and acknowledged paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to soccer executives in exchange for support in obtaining media and marketing rights for various soccer tournaments, including World Cup qualifiers and the Copa America.

The investigation included raids on FIFA officials in Zurich and resulted in numerous arrests, trials, and guilty pleas.