What a brother act! — Foto-net
❝A sports marketing company that was described in a sweeping indictment this month as retaining contracts because of the “support” of corrupt soccer officials has longstanding ties to the U.S. entertainment company 21st Century Fox, according to securities filings and other government documents.
The description of T&T Sports Marketing Ltd in the indictment signals that U.S. prosecutors have intensified their focus on media companies and what they might have known about any bribes…
❝When prosecutors announced their corruption investigation of world soccer’s governing body FIFA in May, they spoke in court papers about “an array of broadcasters and advertisers” but otherwise did not specifically address their role.
❝21st Century Fox listed T&T as a subsidiary last year in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Its investment in the company stretches back to 2002, government documents from the United States and Argentina showed…
T&T, which is registered in the Cayman Islands, does not have a listed telephone number and it was unclear if it has employees of its own…
❝The Dec. 3 indictment said three executives “affiliated” with T&T bribed at least 15 high-level soccer officials to support the company’s exclusive worldwide broadcasting rights for events such as the Copa Libertadores, a major South American club tournament. The three executives were at the time with Argentine sports marketing firm Torneos y Competencias, the indictment said…
The indictment does not explain how T&T benefited from retaining the broadcasting contracts. T&T is not a broadcaster itself, but by obtaining broadcasting rights, it could resell them to major broadcasters.
21st Century Fox, which is led by media baron Rupert Murdoch, ended up with the rights to broadcast the Copa Libertadores and other tournaments…
❝Mere ownership in a subsidiary or affiliate involved in bribery would not be enough, however, for prosecutors to charge a major media company. There would need to be evidence the company knew or was willfully blind.
According to the indictment, T&T was owned in part by Argentina’s Torneos and in part by “a group of investors that included an affiliate of a major broadcasting company headquartered in the United States whose identity is known to the grand jury.” The description does not go beyond that.
Today, only two companies own shares in T&T. A Fox affiliate owns 75 percent and Torneos owns 25 percent, according to Torneos.
If it walks like a Rupert, quacks like a Rupert, it’s probably a Rupert.
Eideard 
Almost US$1 million in FIFA soccer funds have apparently disappeared from Guatemala’s soccer federation Fedefut in 2015 suggesting somebody pocketed the money, according to Reuters exclusive sources and internal audit information reported Saturday. http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/1-Million-of-FIFA-Funds-Go-Missing-from-Guatemalas-Fedefut-20160130-0030.html Guatemalan soccer officials were among the world soccer bosses who have been embroiled in the massive corruption scandal swirling around FIFA. Fedefut head Brayan Jimenez and Secretary-General Hector Trujillo are accused of accepting a “six-digit bribe” to set up the television rights for the 2018 World Cup qualifying matches.
“FIFA says members sold World Cup votes multiple times : World football’s governing body file for compensation in US as a victim of corruption by former officials.” http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/03/fifa-members-sold-world-cup-votes-multiple-times-160316114324363.html “FIFA has admitted that its executive committee members sold World Cup votes on numerous occasions in a legal document submitted to United States authorities.
In a 22-page statement issued on Wednesday, world football’s governing body said that it has filed for compensation in the US as a victim of corruption by its former officials, seeking a big share in restitution from more than $190m already forfeited by football and marketing officials who pleaded guilty in the sprawling corruption case.
“It is now apparent that multiple members of FIFA’s Executive Committee abused their positions and sold their votes on multiple occasions,” FIFA said in a court document.
FIFA said it estimates that tens of millions of dollars were “diverted from the football community illegally through bribery, kickbacks and corrupt schemes”.
Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and two other top officials gave themselves annual raises and World Cup bonuses totaling nearly $80 million over the past five years, according to attorneys working for soccer’s governing body. http://www.expatica.com/ch/news/Blatter-accused-of-rigging-millions-in-suspect-bonusesSW-Blatter-accused-of-rigging-millions-in-suspect-bonuses_696067.html
“Swiss Police Raid FIFA Headquarters, Again” http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Swiss-Police-Raid-FIFA-Headquarters-Again-20160603-0010.html “Swiss authorities have again searched the Zurich headquarters of FIFA and seized documents and electronic data in its corruption probe surrounding the global soccer body, the Swiss attorney general’s office said on Friday.
“As part of the ongoing criminal investigations in the FIFA affair, the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) carried out a search of FIFA’s headquarters on 2 June 2016 with the aim of confirming existing findings and obtaining further information,” the OAG said in a statement.
The OAG said its investigation related only to individuals named in earlier OAG statements and further persons unknown. An OAG spokeswoman added that FIFA President Gianni Infantino was not among those under investigation.
FIFA was not immediately available for comment.”
A human rights group urged soccer’s governing body, FIFA, on Monday to move matches being played by Israeli teams in the occupied West Bank to Israel, saying that playing in Jewish settlements meant they were playing on stolen land. http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Israeli-Soccer-Clubs-Must-Stop-Playing-on-Occupied-Land-NGO-20160926-0003.html The Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law and earlier this month, 66 legislators from the 751-member European Parliament signed a letter to FIFA President Gianni Infantino calling on him to raise the settlement soccer issue at FIFA Council meetings to be held next month in Zurich.
“Sponsors Shy Away From FIFA as Russia World Cup Draws Near” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-20/sponsors-shying-away-from-fifa-as-russia-world-cup-draws-near
“An internal investigation into wrongdoing at the 112-year-old body has been completed by Washington law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, which will provide its report to FIFA next month. That will be three months before Russia hosts the Confederations Cup, an eight-nation tune-up that takes place a year before the main event.” For a QuickTake on corruption scandals at FIFA, soccer’s ruling body see https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/world-cup
FIFA’s Foot-Dragging in an Investigation in Russia : Lawyer Richard McLaren was initially supposed to investigate widespread doping allegations in Russian football ahead of the 2018 World Cup. But he was prevented from doing so by a top FIFA official. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/football-leaks-fifa-anti-doping-foot-dragging-a-1240037.html
“An Israeli bank and its Swiss subsidiary agreed to pay over $30 million for their role in conspiring to launder more than $20 million in kickbacks to soccer officials, becoming the first financial institutions implicated in the FIFA scandal to reach a resolution with U.S. prosecutors.
Bank Hapoalim BM in Israel and its wholly owned Swiss company Hapoalim Ltd. agreed to forfeit $20.73 million and pay a fine of $9.33 million as part of a non-prosecution agreement, the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn said Thursday.” https://www.si.com/soccer/2020/05/01/fifa-scandal-bank-money-laundering-marketing-rights
Meanwhile: “Fifa is preparing to press the authorities in Switzerland to prosecute Sepp Blatter for alleged corruption, after the Swiss attorney general dropped part of its investigation despite police reports listing years of apparent gifts and payments provided to the then vice-president, Jack Warner, in return for votes for Blatter in Fifa presidential elections.
Senior Fifa officials are understood to be considering all options if the case against Blatter is discontinued, potentially including suing the attorney general’s office for failing to prosecute.” https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/apr/30/fifa-action-after-swiss-drop-part-sepp-blatter-investigation
Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and ex-UEFA President Michel Platini have been charged with fraud over unlawfully arranging a payment of two million Swiss francs ($2.19m), according to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) of Switzerland.
The two men were indicted on Tuesday following a six-year investigation into the payment that Blatter authorised to be paid from world football’s governing body FIFA to Platini in 2011. Blatter and Platini said the payment was for backdated salary. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/2/swiss-prosecutors-charge-blatter-and-platini-with-fraud Scroll down for related stories
Throw away the key!