In indicting more than a dozen top football officials on Thursday as part of a "widening" int'l investigation of FIFA, American prosecutors "set their sights on some of the leaders overseeing the sport across Latin America, particularly in Central America and Brazil," according to Richard Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES. But the indictment "also highlighted the lucrative if not well-known world" of media and marketing companies like Media World and the Traffic Group, which, prosecutors said, "facilitated the acts of bribery central to the prosecutors' case." Traffic's dominance in brokering South and Central American football rights "began to be challenged about a decade ago by Media World, a part of the Imagina Group, a Spanish media company." They were "competing for contracts involving, among other things, rights to qualifier games" in UNCAF, the regional federation of Central American countries, which is part of the larger CONCACAF association, in advance of the 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022 World Cups. According to the indictment and football execs, the value in these contracts "rested largely" with the possibility that the Central American teams would play Mexico or the U.S., "enticing networks in those countries, like Univision, to pay substantial fees." Former Univision Sports President David Downs said, "These guys were trying to use the one home game they had against the U.S. or Mexico as leverage to get you to buy less attractive matches." As the competition between Traffic and Media World grew, "so, apparently, did the realization that bribery could help secure business in Latin America." Traffic, prosecutors said, paid off Nicaraguan, Panamanian and Guatemalan officials. Media World "bribed officials from Honduras and El Salvador, the indictment said" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/5). In N.Y., Michael Powell wrote the "gusting winds of change are whipping through the mansion doors of globalized sports." From N.Y. to Rio de Janeiro to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Buenos Aires and "various and sundry capitals in Russia, the Middle East and Africa, the princes and dukes of sports and marketing are in the dock," under investigation or "desperately stuffing Swiss francs into their mattresses." Roger Pielke Jr., a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies sports governance, said, "I hear this from sports officials all the time: 'This is how business is done in our world.' It just so happens that the global sports world has developed a culture and standards increasingly at odds with how the rest of the 21st-century world operates." Investigative reporters like Andrew Jennings, the documentary filmmakers who broke the Russian doping story and "brave whistle-blowers -- not the sports associations -- have led the way in pushing for change." Former Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission Exec Dir Renee Shirley said, "Sport officials have been shamed by arrests and evidence presented by whistle-blowers" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/4).
IMAGINA SUSPENDS CEO: REUTERS' Adrian Croft reported Spanish media company Imagina Group on Friday said it suspended the CEO and another employee of its Media World Sports affiliate "after they pleaded guilty to U.S. charges in a probe into corruption" in world football. CEO Roger Huguet and Fabio Tordin, another exec, were suspended. The U.S. Justice Department announced on Thursday that Huguet had "pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money-laundering." Tordin, the former CEO of Traffic Sports USA Inc., pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud conspiracy and one count of tax evasion, it said in a news release. Both men agreed to forfeit more than $600,000 each as part of their pleas (REUTERS, 12/4).
ECUADOR ORDERS ARREST: REUTERS' José Llangarí reported Ecuador on Saturday ordered the arrest of the president of its football federation, Luis Chiriboga, days after U.S. officials announced that he was "one of 16 people to be charged in connection with a multi-million dollar bribery scheme." The judge also issued arrest warrants for two other federation officials. All three "went voluntarily on Friday to speak with prosecutors after authorities froze their assets" (REUTERS, 12/5). REUTERS' Cespedes & Taj reported former longtime Peruvian Football Federation (FPF) President Manuel Burga "has been arrested as part of an ongoing U.S.-led investigation into corruption." Burga, 58, who was head of the FPF for 12 years until '14, "denied wrongdoing as police arrested him late on Friday outside his home" in Lima. Burga: "I'm helping police with their enquiries, I'd been waiting for them. ... They'd already informed me that I would see an arrest warrant. I reiterate that I'm innocent. I haven't received any bungs or bribes" (REUTERS, 12/6).
VACATION INTERRUPTED: REUTERS' Barbara Liston reported federal agents "boarded a Disney cruise ship in Florida on Friday" to arrest a Guatemalan judge who is one of dozens of football officials charged by U.S. prosecutors. An FBI spokesperson said that Héctor Trujillo, 62, was arrested by U.S. Customs & Border Protection agents "who went to his cabin door." Trujillo was on a Disney cruise ship docked at Port Canaveral, Fla. His family, including a son wearing a 2014 FIFA World Cup T-shirt, "looked on as Trujillo was read his rights through an interpreter." Trujillo's wrists and ankles were shackled (REUTERS, 12/4).
NIKE COOPERATING: BLOOMBERG's Tariq Panja reported Nike is once again defending a '96 sports marketing contract in Brazil "following new allegations" by the U.S. Department of Justice that corrupt Brazilian football officials "were paid bribes." Nike said in a statement on Thursday that "no company officials were aware of any kickbacks and that the sporting goods maker is cooperating with authorities." Nike said in the statement, "There is no allegation in the charging documents that any Nike employee was aware of or knowingly participated in any bribery or kickback scheme. Nike believes in ethical and fair play in both business and sport and strongly opposes any form of manipulation or bribery" (BLOOMBERG, 12/4).
