Argentine sports marketing executives Hugo Jinkis and his son, Mariano Jinkis, have admitted to bribing international football officials to secure lucrative media and marketing rights, in a deal with US prosecutors that will allow them to avoid trial.

The father and son were charged following a major corruption investigation into FIFA and football’s governing bodies in the Americas that began in 2015. The probe triggered a wave of arrests, prosecutions and convictions involving senior football officials.

Under a deferred prosecution agreement, US prosecutors will drop fraud charges against the Jinkises after they admitted to participating in a scheme that defrauded FIFA, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL).

They have also agreed to forfeit $50 million. According to a court filing, the Jinkises “agreed to pay and did pay tens of millions of dollars in commercial bribes” to football executives in exchange for support in obtaining lucrative media and marketing rights to various tournaments.

The Jinkises, co-owners of Argentine sports marketing company Full Play, used the bribes to secure broadcasting and marketing rights for competitions including World Cup qualifiers and the Copa América.

The case formed part of the wider US investigation into corruption within international football, which included raids on FIFA officials in Zurich and resulted in numerous arrests, trials and guilty pleas.