The convictions of a former Fox executive and an Argentine sports marketing firm for trying to bribe football officials in exchange for lucrative television contracts have been overturned by a U.S. judge.
The March 9 convictions of Hernan Lopez and Full Play Group could not stand, according to U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen in Brooklyn, since foreign business bribery was not covered by the federal law prohibiting honest services wire fraud.
She said that additional restrictions on when the fraud legislation might be used had been imposed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on May 11 to overturn Joseph Percoco’s unrelated corruption conviction. Percoco was a former assistant to former additional York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The core fact that there is no precedent to support the application of this federal criminal statute… to foreign commercial bribery cannot be overridden by the government’s appeals to common law, state law, civil law, foreign law, or standards of conduct, Chen ruled in a 55-page opinion.
Because they were based on the fraud convictions, the judge also overturned Lopez’s and Full Play’s money laundering convictions.
On Saturday, a spokesperson for Brooklyn’s U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said the office was considering the choice.
Lopez’s attorney, David Sarratt, stated: “We are certainly happy with Judge Chen’s meticulous and accurate ruling. We continue to firmly believe in the innocence of our client.
Full Play’s attorney was unable to comment right away.
Since the U.S. Department of Justice revealed a thorough investigation into football corruption, including at FIFA, the sport’s global governing body, in 2015, more than 40 defendants, including Lopez and Full Play, have been indicted criminally.
In a 2017 jury trial, two football officials were found guilty, while at least 31 individuals and business entities entered guilty pleas.
According to the prosecution, Lopez, the former CEO of Fox International Channels, planned to pay CONMEBOL officials in order to secure the rights to the Copa Libertadores, the most well-known club competition in South America.
Full Play was charged with planning to buy broadcast and marketing rights to Copa Libertadores and World Cup qualifying matches by bribing CONMEBOL and CONCACAF officials.
Former Fox International Channels Latin America president Carlos Martinez, a co-defendant, was found not guilty.
Alejandro Burzaco, the former boss of the Argentine sports marketing company Torneos, who pled guilty in 2015 and cooperated with prosecutors, provided a significant amount of the case’s testimony. Chen gave him a time served verdict in May, which entails no jail time. (New York-based reporter Jonathan Stempel and Rosalba O’Brien served as editors.)