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Lawyer Linked to FIFA Bribes Killed Himself by Jumping In Front of a Train

Argentine attorney Jorge Delhon was accused of taking bribes during testimony on Tuesday, and threw himself in front of a train in Buenos Aires later that day.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons

A former Argentine government official killed himself by jumping in front of a train in Buenos Aires on Tuesday after being accused of taking bribes to secure soccer broadcast rights, according to Associated Press. A ministry official in Buenos Aires confirmed the death.

Jorge Delhon, a lawyer who previously worked under Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, was accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes from 2011-2014 in exchange for broadcasting rights to matches.

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Delhon was implicated yesterday during testimony in the trial examining corruption in FIFA and international soccer. Testifying in federal court in Brooklyn, Alejandro Burzaco, the former head of Argentine sports marketing firm Torneos y Competencias, said that FOX Sports partnered with his firm to make millions of dollars in bribes to soccer officials, including Delhon who worked for a government program that held the rights to soccer broadcasts in Argentina. Burzaco said that several other media companies had paid bribes for TV rights as well.

Here's more, from the BBC:

Giving evidence in the trial on Tuesday, Alejandro Burzaco said he had paid Mr Delhon and another Argentine official $500,000 each every year from 2011 to 2014 to secure the broadcasting rights to football games.

Previously, FOX was awarded the broadcasting rights to the 2026 World Cup without a bidding process. At the time, FIFA claimed to extend the rights from 2022 to the following tournament to avoid a lawsuit from FOX. The 2022 tournament in Qatar was moved from the traditional summer months to the fall in November, due to health concerns associated with playing in the extreme heat. This meant that the World Cup would be competing with other sports like the NFL, and the ratings would likely take a hit. Several media companies, including ESPN voiced frustration with the behind-closed-doors nature of the arrangement.

Fox has since denied the bribery allegations, claiming that they had no operational control of the entity that Burzaco ran.