(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- According to testimony given in Federal Court, Fox Sports got the rights to show the World Cup in the United States in 2011. They did this by allegedly using insider information.
The New York-based Fox Corp. has denied any involvement in the bribery scandal and is not a defendant in the case. In 2019, the company split from a subsidiary of international channels as part of a restructuring.
In a statement, FOX Corporation said the case is about an old business structure that has nothing to do with them now.
According to a report, Justice Department witness, Alejandro Burzaco, a former banker and sports marketing executive, has admitted that he worked as a middleman between FIFA and Fox Sports. During what was supposed to be a blind auction, Fox Sports was able to outbid ESPN and NBC. Fox Sports has since shown the World Cup from Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022. The 2026 North America World Cup will also be shown on the networks owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Burzaco testified that he was a middleman between Hernán López, who worked for Fox International then, and Julio Grondona, who worked for FIFA. In federal court, Burzaco said that Grondona remarked that if Fox put up $400 million, it would win.
Reports show Burzaco has admitted to conspiracy to commit racketeering and other charges. In 2017, he testified that all three South Americans on FIFA’s executive committee took bribes of $1 million each to support Qatar’s bid for the 2022 World Cup.
Since 2008, it is believed that Russia and Qatar bought votes to win the right to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. In December last year, U.S. prosecutors clarified that money was given to five members of FIFA’s top board before the vote in 2010 to choose Russia and Qatar as hosts.
Russia won the right to host the 2018 men’s tournament by beating out England and joint bids from Holland-Belgium and Spain-Portugal.
A new Netflix documentary in four parts sheds light on the corruption claims that have hurt FIFA’s reputation over the last ten years.
