In early 2014, Fabio Tordin, an executive with Media World, a Miami-based broadcast-rights broker, met with the leaders of Guatemala’s soccer federation to buy the media rights to the country’s 2022 World Cup qualifier matches.
Tordin agreed to pay them a $200,000 bribe, according to an American indictment unsealed last week. Then, in a twist, he promised to pay one of the men, Brayan Jiménez, the federation president, $200,000 more, without telling the other man, Héctor Trujillo, the general secretary.
In July, more than a year later, the three men met again, in Chicago. As the Guatemalans described how they had received their payoffs, according to the 236-page indictment, Jiménez said: “Nothing should be said over the telephone!