DoJ asks appeals court to reinstate conviction of former Fox executive and soccer marketing group
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to reinstate the convictions of a former Fox executive and a South American sports media and marketing company in the FIFA bribery investigation.
U.S. District Judge Pamela K. Chen, who presided over the trial in Brooklyn federal court, granted a motion for an acquittal in September, citing a May decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving an aide to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Hernan Lopez, the former CEO of Fox International Channels, was convicted March 9 along with the marketing company Full Play Group SA of one count each of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy related to the Copa Libertadores club tournament. Full Play was convicted of two additional counts each of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy related to World Cup qualifiers and friendlies and to the Copa América, the continent’s national team championship.
The Supreme Court in May reversed the wire fraud conspiracy conviction of former Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco, ruling jury instructions were too vague. Chen wrote that the Supreme Court’s latest wire fraud decisions ensured “the evidence at trial was insufficient to sustain defendants’ convictions.”
“The court’s misapprehension of certain facts resulted in the court improperly overturning two counts of conviction related to the scheme to defraud CONCACAF,” the government wrote in a filing Tuesday night to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, referring to soccer’s governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean. “The court’s analysis ignored trial proof of those counts, which would survive even under the court’s new, post-verdict erroneous legal rule.”
The government also said Chen’s “opinion failed to even acknowledge that one of the schemes involved Full Play bribing a soccer executive who violated his fiduciary duty to a U.S.-based soccer organization for the rights to a tournament played in the United States.”
It asked the appeals court to either reinstate the conviction or order a new trial.
Dozens of people have pleaded guilty or been convicted after a U.S.-led investigation into FIFA and international soccer. The probe became public in 2015 when U.S. prosecutors accused the leaders of soccer federations of tarnishing the sport for nearly a quarter-century by taking $150 million in bribes and payoffs.
Fox Corp., which split from a subsidiary of international channels during a restructuring in 2019, was not charged and has denied any involvement in the bribery scandal.
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