The FBI searches the headquarters of the audiovisual group Imagina in Miami

FBI agents carry out a search at the headquarters of Media World, a subsidiary of Imagina, dedicated to the management of sports rights.

Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States have searched this Thursday the offices of the company Media World, a subsidiary of the Spanish audiovisual group Imagina, in Miami. The agents have made backups of some of the company's computers and have taken some boxes of material.

The subsidiary of Imagina US, a company of the Imagina group, is dedicated to the development, operation and distribution of television channels, the international exploitation of sports rights and technical services for operation and transmission in the audiovisual field. Based in Miami since 1998, she works in Latin America and the United States, with operations in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Colombia, and high-definition production studios in Miami and Los Angeles.

Imagina has stressed in a statement that with respect to the information published regarding the search carried out by the FBI at the facilities of Media World in Miami, a company owned by the American subsidiary of the Imagina Group, "the company is dedicated to the management of sports rights and the management of the same corresponds to the minority shareholder. In the event that sufficient evidence is presented, and even respecting the presumption of innocence, the group will abruptly dismiss any person who may have engaged in any type of irregular activity."

"The Imagina group does not allow or tolerate irregular, illegal activities or activities that violate its code of ethics. Any person or activity that may incur or have incurred in irregular behavior will be immediately disassociated from the group," they add.

The Imagina group is 51.3 percent owned by Mediapro and Globomedia, 17.1 percent by the WPP group, 17.1 percent by Torreal and 14.5 percent by Televisa.

Football, under suspicion

The FBI already searched the Miami headquarters of the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Football (CONCACAF) last May, as part of a broad operation against corruption within FIFA.

This morning the Swiss police arrested Alfredo Hawit, president of the Central American Football Confederation (CONCACAF) and vice president of FIFA, and Juan Ángel Napout, also vice president of FIFA and president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) in Zurich.