December 12 – US prosecutors have dropped their case against former Fox executive Hernan Lopez and South American sports media company Full Play Group to preserve previous convictions.
In 2023 Hernan Lopez, the former CEO of Fox International Channels, and Full Play Group SA were convicted in a New York trial. A judge later overturned the 2023 convictions before an appeals court reinstated the verdicts in July, prompting further appeals and leaving the future of the case uncertain.
US Prosecutors now want the case dropped, telling the Supreme Court that the government has concluded “dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice.” They requested that the case be returned to a lower court to consider a motion to dismiss the indictment.
Lopez, in a statement, said he was grateful for the decision to seek dismissal and eager to move on.
“The charges were baseless from the start, and I have fought for five years to clear my name,” he said.
Lopez and Full Play were among dozens implicated in a sweeping US investigation into international football and FIFA. The probe came to light in 2015, when US prosecutors indicted more than 40 officials across multiple football federations alleging they had accepted $150 million in bribes and kickbacks. It would ultimately lead to the downfall of Sepp Blatter, the then FIFA president.
At Lopez’s trial, witnesses testified that he was one of several executives who arranged bribes for officials at Conmebol, South America’s football governing body, to help Fox secure broadcast rights to the Copa Libertadores. Prosecutors also said bribes facilitated by Lopez enabled Fox to obtain confidential information about bids for media rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments.
In recent years, however, a Supreme Court ruling has narrowed the scope of corruption offenses, making some convictions harder to secure. The Trump administration also shifted the federal government’s strategy on anti-corruption enforcement.
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