NEW YORK (AP) — The star witness for the U.S. government in a corruption trial over broadcast rights to some of soccer’s biggest events testified Wednesday how he and two former Fox executives paid millions of dollars in bribes to undermine competing offerings.
The trial in New York City is the latest development in a tangled corruption scandal that dates back nearly a decade and has ensnared more than three dozen executives and associates in the world’s most popular sport.
The witness, Alejandro Burzaco, alleges that he and former Fox executives Hernán López and Carlos Martínez conspired to bribe South American soccer officials for the television rights to the southern hemisphere’s largest annual tournament, the Copa Libertadores, and to help obtain broadcast rights to most of the sport. lucrative competition, the World Cup.
“The bribes served that purpose extremely well,” Burzaco testified.
Lawyers for López and Martínez have claimed that the former executives are being framed, with a defense attorney accusing Burzaco of planning the bribes.
During his first day on the witness stand Wednesday, Burazco told the court about the phony contracts that were made with soccer officials to funnel bribes.
He said the payments Lopez and Martinez are accused of making to South American Soccer Confederation officials helped Fox weed out competitors and secured below-market tournament rights.
Lopez, a native of Argentina, is the former CEO of Fox International Channels and later operated a podcasting company. Martínez, a native of Mexico, headed the station’s Latin American affiliate.
Another sports media and marketing company, Full Play Group SA, is on trial with López and Martínez, but the bribery allegations against that company involve different television rights. Full Play, incorporated in Uruguay, is accused of paying bribes for the rights to the Copa América, a quadrennial national competition, as well as World Cup qualifying matches.
Prosecutors are expected to question Burzaco through at least Friday, after which it will be the defense attorneys’ turn.
New York-based Fox Corp., which was spun off from an international channel subsidiary during a 2019 restructuring, has denied any involvement in the bribery scandal and is not a defendant in the case.
The company said in a statement that it has fully cooperated with and respects the judicial process, noting that the international channels were part of what was then known as 21st Century Fox before the corporate reorganization.
“This case involves a legacy business that has no connection to the new FOX Corporation,” the statement said.
So far, more than two dozen people have pleaded guilty and two people have been convicted at trial in connection with a US-led investigation into tens of millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks at the highest levels of soccer. Four corporate entities have also pleaded guilty. Four other companies were charged but reached agreements with the government to avoid prosecution.
The governing body of the world of soccer, FIFA, he has said he was not involved in any fraud or conspiracy and was a mere bystander as the scandal unfolded.
However, the scandal brought the organization under worldwide scrutiny. Since then he has tried to polish his tarnished image.
Last month’s World Cup final in Qatar, where Argentina beat France in a dramatic title shootout, it was the most-watched soccer game in the United States, according to television audience estimates.
During opening arguments Tuesday, Assistant US Attorney Victor Zapana told jurors that millions of dollars in bribes fueled a system of clandestine no-bid contracts that “allowed disloyal soccer executives to live a life of luxury.”
Prosecutors allege that the bribes allowed López and Martínez to allow Fox to obtain confidential information from high-ranking soccer officials, including those at FIFA, which enabled their $425 million offer to beat out rival ESPN and secure the rights to US broadcast for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Cups.
Burzaco is a former business partner of the two men and ran an Argentine marketing company. He has cooperated in previous soccer corruption cases after his own arrest for bribery in 2015 in an attempt, his critics say, to avoid prison.
Burzaco pleaded guilty to extortion conspiracy and other charges. He testified in 2017 that the three South Americans on FIFA’s executive committee accepted million-dollar bribes to support Qatar’s bid for the recently completed 2022 World Cup.
