{
  "id": 3818972,
  "title": "Argentine sports executives admit bribing FIFA officials",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/argentine-sports-executives-admit-bribing-fifa-officials-3818972",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-27T21:22:16.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Punch Nigeria",
    "slug": "punch-nigeria",
    "url": "https://punchng.com/argentine-sports-executives-admit-bribing-fifa-officials/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Two Argentine sports marketing executives, Hugo Jinkis and his son Mariano, have admitted to bribing FIFA officials in exchange for lucrative media rights, as part of a deal with US prosecutors to avoid trial. The admissions came following a 2015 investigation into FIFA and South and North American soccer confederations, which led to numerous arrests, trials, and guilty pleas. The US investigation, including raids on FIFA officials in Zurich, resulted in a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) that allows the Jinkises to avoid fraud charges. In the deal, the men agreed to pay and have already paid tens of millions of dollars in commercial bribes to soccer executives for support in securing media and marketing rights to various tournaments. This included matches like World Cup qualifiers and the Copa America. The Jinkises, co-owners of Full Play, a sport marketing company, used these bribes to secure rights for high-profile events.",
  "summary": "Two Argentine sports executives admit to bribing FIFA officials for media rights, forfeiting $50 million in a deal with US prosecutors to avoid trial. Read More: https://punchng.com/argentine-sports-executives-admit-bribing-fifa-officials/",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 4,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Buenos Aires Times",
        "title": "Argentine pair in FIFA corruption scandal admit paying bribes",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/argentine-pair-in-fifa-corruption-scandal-admit-paying-bribes",
        "published": "2026-08-27T20:57:07.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Punch",
        "title": "Argentine sports executives admit bribing FIFA officials",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/argentine-sports-executives-admit-bribing-fifa-officials",
        "published": "2026-08-27T21:02:17.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Malay Mail",
        "title": "Fifa corruption scandal: Argentine father-and-son executives admit paying millions in bribes to secure lucrative football rights",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/28/fifa-corruption-scandal-argentine-father-and-son-executives-admit",
        "published": "2026-08-28T01:03:43.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}