Two former fugitives from Argentina, Hugo Jinkins and his son Mariano, reached a plea agreement with U.S. prosecutors and admitted to their involvement in a case involving tens of millions of dollars in commercial bribes paid to soccer officialsin South America, in exchange for the granting of television and sponsorship rights to lucrative FIFA soccer tournaments.
The two Argentines found themselves at the center of an extensive federal investigation into corruption in world soccer and ultimately reached an agreement with the U.S. Department ofto resolve bribery charges that had been filed more than a decade ago.
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On Thursday (August 27), they are expected to appear before a federal court in Brooklyn to inform the judge that they have reached a deferred prosecution agreement, which was finalized in recent months.
The terms of the agreement have not been made public; however, according to the *New York Times*, such proceedings typically provide for the dismissal of criminal charges against the defendants, provided they comply with a series of specific conditions. The father and son are expected to be released on bail after appearing in Brooklyn court, according to a letter from federal prosecutors.
As part of the agreement, the defendants will admit to paying “tens of millions of dollars in commercial bribes,” while, according to prosecutors, the payments began in the 1990s and continued through 2015, when the two men were indicted as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into corruption at FIFA, the world soccer governing body.
Unlike many other defendants in the case, the Jinkis brothers managed to avoid extradition to the United States and remained fugitives in Argentina.
In May, The New York Times revealed that the two men had traveled to New York for secret negotiations with federal prosecutors regarding their case. Their trip took place amid widespread questions about corruption in international soccer, as the U.S. was set to host the 2026 World Cup at the time. An event that has made corruption its… hallmark.
To date, the federal government has secured more than 20 convictions in connection with this long-running corruption case. Several defendants have served prison sentences, while many others have agreed to cooperate with authorities and pay substantial fines, spending years working with prosecutors and testifying as witnesses in trials.
The Jinkis are unlikely to face a prison sentence, as prosecutors stated in the document concerning them that they will file a new charge against the two men, to which they will formally plead “not guilty” on Thursday, and it is unclear whether the agreement will include fines or restitution, although such terms are often part of similar agreements.
*photo source: AP
