Fallo split for Fox executives over kickbacks

NEW YORK (AP) — A former Fox executive was found guilty Thursday of paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to secure the rights to broadcast the World Cup and other high-profile tournaments. A second former executive has been exonerated.

A federal jury in Brooklyn deliberated four days before returning the verdict.

Argentinian Hernán López, former CEO of Fox International Channels, was found guilty. The Mexican Carlos Martínez, who ran the branch in Latin America, was declared innocent.

Prosecutors said the case revealed corruption in international football.

Instead, the defense claimed the two former Fox executives were framed by a confessed felon seeking only to reduce his own sentence.

Moved, López hugged some courtroom attendants after hearing the verdict, while his lawyers appeared in disbelief. The judge granted his release on bail pending sentencing.

Neither López nor his defenders have commented.

Steve McCool, Martinez’s attorney, instead said “justice was served today for Carlos.”

“The jurors heard he was an innocent man and should never have been here,” McCool said as he left the courthouse.

A South American sports media and marketing company has also been found guilty of bribery involving different television rights. Full Play Group SA, incorporated in Uruguay, has been accused of making improper payments for Copa América rights and World Cup qualifying matches.

New York-based Fox Corp. set up an international channel subsidiary during a 2019 restructuring. It has not been charged and has denied any role in the bribery scandal.

Lopez is among dozens of people found guilty, either by themselves or by a jury, following an investigation by the United States into international soccer and the sport’s governing body.

The investigation became public in 2015, when US prosecutors accused soccer executives of sullying the sport for nearly a quarter of a century by pocketing $150 million in bribes.

FIFA ended up expanding and renaming its executive group. The organization’s president, Joseph Blatter, resigned and was replaced by current leader Gianni Inantino, who insisted on reforming the organization.

However, FIFA has come under fire in recent years for tolerating alleged abuses against migrant workers during the construction of stadiums for last year’s World Cup in Qatar, and for keeping structures in place that provide for lower payouts for women in their tournaments.