Judge blows final whistle in FIFA bribery case

BROOKLYN (CN) — As New York City prepares to host the 2026 World Cup, a federal judge on Wednesday blew the final whistle on corruption charges against a former Fox executive and a sports media company convicted of conspiring to bribe FIFA for broadcasting rights to tournaments like the World Cup qualifiers and Copa América.

At their 2023 trial, Hernan Lopez, former CEO of Fox International Channels, and Argentinian sports media company Full Play SA took a loss when jurors convicted both parties of wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. Six months later, U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen overturned their convictions, citing fresh Supreme Court precedent that raised the bar for bribery prosecutions.

The Second Circuit disagreed and reinstated Lopez’s conviction — but earlier this year, the Supreme Court reversed the appellate ruling over improper jury instructions and handed the defendants a win. The government’s motion to dismiss its indictment followed, and Chen, a Barack Obama appointee, granted prosecutors’ request from the bench on Wednesday.

Lopez, who beamed from his seat at the defense table during the roughly 30-minute hearing, expressed his relief seeing the end of the yearslong volley. “Six years later, a case that should have never started is finally over,” Lopez said.

His trial attorney, Debevoise & Plimpton partner David Sarratt, echoed the sentiment.

“I believed in our client and our case the whole way,” Sarratt said. “We’re very happy for Mr. Lopez to be able to put it behind him and move on.”

At a seven-week trial, Lopez was convicted of plotting to bribe officials of the South American Football Confederation — one of FIFA’s six continental confederations, known as Conmebol — in exchange for lucrative rights to air South American club soccer’s biggest competition, the Copa Libertadores. Prosecutors said he and other executives paid millions in bribes and kickbacks to gain both broadcasting rights and insider information on bidding for other competitions, like the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments.

The 2023 trial centered on testimony from cooperating witness Alejandro Burzaco, who was a principal for Torneos y Competencias SA, an Argentinian sports media and marketing business, and who also testified at a 2017 trial against former soccer officials in the sweeping FIFA corruption scandal that took down longtime leader Joseph “Sepp” Blatter.

Prosecutors praised Burzaco for cooperation that led to multiple convictions and some two dozen public guilty pleas. He received no prison time for his own guilty plea.

At Wednesday’s hearing, U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. appeared solo for the government, an unusual move that prompted a remark from the judge.

“It’s always a pleasure to see you, but I would say your team was fully adequate to handle this. But you appear to be here by yourself,” Chen said.

“I’m here by myself since I was the one that signed the motion to dismiss under Rule 48,” Nocella replied.

The Justice Department is giving up the case against Lopez and Full Play, Nocella told the judge, because it is focused on other matters like homeland security, narcoterrorism, gang violence and human trafficking.

“The Department of Justice has decided that it doesn’t want to use its resources to pursue the prosecution … because it doesn’t fit with the administration’s priorities.”

In granting the government’s motion to dismiss, Chen noted that the decision was unrelated to any previous rulings in the case, including her own prior dismissal under Rule 29. “As a practical matter, I have very little authority in terms of denying the motion to dismiss,” she said.

Chen cited case precedent including the 2002 Second Circuit ruling in United States v. Blaszczak, which says: “The government may elect to eschew or discontinue prosecutions for any of a number of reasons. Rarely will the judiciary overrule the Executive Branch’s exercise of these prosecutorial decisions.”

In her earlier ruling acquitting Lopez and Full Play, Chen relied on Percoco v. United States, a Supreme Court ruling involving a former aide to former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was convicted in 2018 of taking bribes to influence the Cuomo administration’s rollout of a billion-dollar economic project nicknamed the “Buffalo Billion.”

Percoco brought his conviction to the Supreme Court, which acquitted him after finding that the jury was given improper instructions when mulling the wire fraud conspiracy count. The high court also overturned a similar conviction that stemmed from the same investigation, that of Cuomo donor Louis Ciminelli, on similar grounds.

Reached via email following Wednesday’s hearing, Full Play attorney Carlos Ortiz of BakerHostetler said he was pleased with the case outcome.

“Our client Full Play Group is very appreciate of the government’s careful consideration of the case culminating in this dismissal as well Judge Chen’s prior ruling. We are pleased with this result and that the case for our client is over,” Ortiz said.

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