NY judge throws out FIFA convictions in Fox executive case

A US federal judge has thrown out the convictions against a former Fox executive, a South American sports media and marketing company involved in the FIFA bribery investigation led by the American Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

As reported by El Pais, Hernan Lopez, the former CEO of Fox International Channels, which is heavily invested in the sports industry due to its television rights, was convicted on 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 national team championship of South America.

The latest decision of the judge found, that the conduct cannot be "criminalized" and that the "evidence at trial was insufficient to sustain defendants’ convictions under that statute".

The FIFA investigation became public in 2015 and revolved around collusion between officials of continental football bodies CONMEBOL (South America) and CONCACAF (Caribbean, Central and North America), and sports marketing executives. The sports marketing executives were holders of media and marketing rights for high-profile international competitions including the Americas' FIFA World Cup qualifying tournaments, and showpiece tournaments CONCACAF Gold Cup and Copa América. Its results accused the executives at the football federation of accepting over $150 million in bribes and payoffs.