Sign at the entrance to the FIFA head office in Zurich, Switzerland. Photo: Ugis Riba/Shutterstock.com

The indictments of two former 21st Century Fox Inc. executives related to alleged soccer bribery schemes could mean more scrutiny for the company, a white-collar crime expert said Friday.

The charges also should be a wake-up signal to all general counsel who have only worried about bribery of foreign officials under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and not about "old fashioned bribery" involving private individuals or other companies, warned Matthew Reinhard, a white-collar crime and investigations attorney at Miller & Chevalier in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. attorney in Brooklyn unsealed four new indictments Monday charging the two Fox employees, a Spanish media executive and one Uruguayan sports marketing company with wire fraud, money laundering and related offenses.

The charges are part of a more than five-year-old case exposing corruption in FIFA, also known as the Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the world's largest sports organization located in Zurich.

Reinhard said it's significant that the investigation has expanded from charging more than a dozen executives in the FIFA organization over the past five years with taking bribes, to now charging people who allegedly were paying bribes.

Fox itself has not been charged with wrongdoing, but the two former executives are accused of paying millions of dollars in bribes to obtain soccer broadcast rights for Fox Sports.

"I strongly suspect that Fox, as a corporate entity, is cooperating with authorities on this," Reinhard said. If the bribes are proven, he also suspects there will "be some kind of reckoning for the company as a whole, just given the value of those broadcast rights … It might have to disgorge profits from those broadcasts."

A Fox Corp. spokesperson referred questions to Fox Sports, which did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

The schemes, according to the indictment, included the use of shell companies, sham consulting contracts and other methods to disguise the bribes and make them appear legitimate.

The indictment shows at least four big money wire transfers—for $20 million, $6.2 million, $5.75 million and $400,000—from the Fox Latin America Channel Inc. at Bank of America, through New York. The money was then credited to an account in the name of T&T Sports Marketing at Interaudi Bank in Miami.

The indictment says T&T was partly owned by Fox Pan American Sports, a Fox subsidiary.

In a statement, Richard Donoghue, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said, "Companies and individuals alike should understand that, regardless of their wealth or power, they will be brought to justice if they use the U.S. financial system to further corrupt ends."

The indictment was the third superseding indictment in the FIFA bribery probe. Charged are:

• Hernan Lopez, former chief executive officer of Fox International Channels, a subsidiary responsible for developing Fox's sports broadcasting business in Latin America.
• Carlos Martinez, former president of Fox International Channels who developed aspects of Fox's sports broadcasting operations in Latin America.

Among other things, prosecutors said the bribes helped Fox obtain confidential information regarding bidding for the rights to broadcast the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments in the United States, which Fox won.

Both men pleaded not guilty at their Thursday arraignments, and bond was set at $15 million.

Reinhard said the indictment fallout also could touch other broadcast entities. "Big broadcasters like ABC, CBS and NBC need to wonder if they may have a problem in their own backyards," he said.

"Do they need to go back and look at how they obtained rights for international sporting events, particularly in other countries, like the Olympics?" he asked. "I would advise them to, if they are not."

A FIFA spokesman said Friday that FIFA supports all investigations into alleged acts of criminal wrongdoing regarding either domestic or international football competitions and will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement.

"It is important to point out," the spokesman said, "that FIFA has itself been accorded victim status in the U.S. criminal proceedings, and senior FIFA officials are in regular contact with the U.S. Department of Justice. Following the latest indictment, FIFA will ask the DOJ for further information on these matters."