KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: A New York trial arising out from the fall-out of the FIFAGate scandal has been postponed until next January after the sharing of a vast trove of new documentation.

Judge Pamela Chen, making the order, referred to the “recent disclosure of a large volume of discovery materials —perhaps as many as 7,000–8,000 documents conservatively totaling 40,000 pages.”

Former 21st Century Fox executives Hernan Lopez and Carlos Martinez, and Uruguay-based Full Play Group pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn in April 2020 to charges of including wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

The prosecution alleges that the defendants and co-conspirators bribed officials of South American confederation CONMEBOL to secure media and marketing rights to various tournaments, including the South American Copa Libertadores.

They were also accused of using bribes to help Fox obtain inside information about bidding for U.S. broadcast rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Fox paid $400m for the English-language rights to both tournaments in 2011.

Both men have been freed on bail of $15m.

Walt Disney Co bought most of 21st Century Fox in 2019. Disney is not a defendant.

In May 2015 seven senior world football executives were detained in Zurich at the request of the United States Department of Justice on a variety of bribery, fraud and money-laundering charges concerning media rights to the World Cup and major Latin American competitions.

More than 40 individuals and companies were charged, many of the individuals later being banned from football for life. The scandal led to the downfall of the then FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

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