BUENOS AIRES — Argentine businessmen Hugo and Mariano Jinkis, who are wanted by US prosecutors in a FIFA bribery investigation, turned themselves in Thursday to the authorities in Buenos Aires, local media broadly reported. Hugo Jinkis and his son were among the nine FIFA officials and five corporate executives indicted in the United States on May 27 on charges of racketeering and corruption that rocked the soccer world.
US prosecutors say the two men, together with another Argentine Alejandro Burzaco, conspired to win and keep lucrative media rights contracts from regional soccer by paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes.
Burzaco surrendered voluntarily to police in northern Italy last week.
The Argentine tax authority has denounced all three for “tax evasion, illicit fiscal association and money laundering.”
Lawyers for the Jinkis could not be reached for comment Thursday despite repeated calls.
Local news outlet infobae reported that the Jinkis handed themselves in to a Buenos Aires court at 0730 local (1030 GMT). Argentine authorities now have to determine whether to extradite them to the US. — Reuters
