Three senior executives at media company 21st Century Fox agreed for bribes worth millions of dollars to be paid to South American football officials to secure media-rights deals, according to US prosecution documents.
The payments helped the T&T Sports Marketing agency – which, according to the Guardian newspaper, had links to Fox – to secure rights to the Copa Libertadores continental club competition.
Fox said that it “did not participate in any wrongdoing”, the report added.
None of the identified executives have been charged by the US authorities.
The allegations came to light in an ongoing civil case brought against Fox and others by rival broadcaster Gol TV, which claims to have unfairly missed out on securing rights deals due to the alleged infringements.
The newspaper said that the three individuals were alleged to be Carlos Martinez, Fox Networks’ chief executive in Latin America; Hernan Lopez, the former head of Fox International Channels; and James Ganley, the former chief operating officer at Fox Pan American Sports.
The prosecutors claim that bribes were paid, at times, “with the agreement and support” of those executives.