The ESPN network fraudulently won dozens of Emmy Awards over the course of a decade

Washington. American sports network ESPN He cheated Emmy organizers over the years to receive dozens of awards from the prestigious television company. This was reported Thursday by The Athletic, a subsidiary of The New York Times.

According to an investigation by The Athletic, after fraudulently winning the awards, ESPN altered them to award them to real figures from the television network.

The fraudulently obtained statues have been returned to Emmy organizers by ESPN.

A scam that defrauded the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), which awards the Emmys, It started in 2010 and has allowed ESPN to win at least 30 awards.

One of the ESPN programs most embroiled in scandal is “College GameDay,” one of the network's most successful.

The show won multiple Emmys from 2008 to 2018 It was given to executive producers, but those with the same initials as the anchors and analysts who appeared in front of the cameras and were not allowed as nominees for the awards.

It was the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences that discovered the fraud and launched an investigation.

In a statement ESPN provided to The Athletic, the network acknowledged its employees' involvement in the hoax.

“Certain members of our panel clearly erred by submitting names from 1997 in Emmy categories that were eligible for recognition or statuettes,” ESPN reported.

But the chain pointed it out and justified the actions to a certain extent ESPN's “misguided attempt to recognize hosts who were key members”.

For its part, NATAS pledged to contact ESPN management after discovering the fraud, which it committed to “taking responsibility for the actions of its employees and fully investigating and correcting the fraudulent activity.”