Judge Throws Out Conviction of Ex-Fox Exec in Soccer Bribery Case

BROOKLYN — A federal judge said Wednesday she would dismiss the cases against a former Fox executive and sports marketing firm that were both convicted in 2023 of bribing soccer officials for lucrative broadcasting rights.

The decision comes after the Department of Justice made a rare request to drop the case in December, stating that it no longer falls within the Trump administration’s priorities.

“Six years, a case that never should have started is finally over,” defendant Hernán López, the former CEO of Fox International Channels, told reporters after the hearing.

The biggest event in global soccer, the World Cup, kicks off in two weeks and will be broadcast on Fox in the United States.

U.S. District Court Judge Pamela Chen in the Eastern District of New York held a hearing on Wednesday, which is the anniversary of the Geneva raids from the 2015 FIFA probe. Along with López, the other defendant was Argentine company Full Play Group. Earlier this month, the company’s former owner and CEO and his son came to the U.S. after years of avoiding prosecutors to negotiate a possible plea deal, The New York Times first reported.

In 2023, a jury convicted López and Full Play of bribing South American soccer officials with millions of dollars to steer tournament broadcasting rights to Fox, stemming from a 2020 indictment as part of a long-running FIFA corruption case that has led to dozens of convictions.

López, who also founded the podcast company Wondery, was accused of paying national federation presidents to get Fox the rights to the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana, as well as information through that “loyalty” to beat ESPN for 2018 and 2022 World Cup rights in the U.S. 

Full Play was accused of making bribes for World Cup qualifiers, Copa América, Copa Libertadores, and other matches.

The case has been through several twists and turns. Six months after the convictions, Chen overturned the decision, citing a new Supreme Court ruling—ironically, into corruption in former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration—that in her eyes changed the scope of the wire fraud statute under which López and Full Play were charged. Then, in July 2025, a panel of federal appeals judges reinstated the convictions, saying Chen had been wrong to overturn them. But in December, Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, wrote a letter to dismiss the charges, and the U.S. Solicitor General, D. John Sauer, asked the Supreme Court to reverse the appeal court’s decision and send the case back to Chen to dismiss it.

On Wednesday, Nocella said the DOJ decided it does not want to continue putting resources into this case because it does not fit within the Trump administration’s priorities, which include cases related to homeland security, immigration and “violent gangs.” Attorneys for López and Full Play both said they join in the motion.

Chen said she was prepared to rule and would grant the motion. She said that she was not deciding based “on any of the procedural ups and downs” that have happened since she last ruled on the case.

Chen said the DOJ and Nocella provided enough evidence to show the case “no longer fits with the administration’s prosecutorial priorities,” but also noted her limited capacity, saying the government could always choose to “slow roll prosecution” if she did not grant the motion.

“As a practical matter, I have very little authority in terms of denying the motion to dismiss,” Chen said.

After the hearing ended, López and his attorney David Sarratt embraced in the courtroom.

“I believed in our client and our case the whole way,” Sarratt told reporters outside the courtroom. “This is a case that never should have been brought, but I’m very happy for Mr. López that he can put it behind him.”

Spokespeople for FIFA and CONMEBOL did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Fox did not comment.

Also on Wednesday, the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey subpoenaed FIFA as part of an investigation into World Cup ticketing practices. The investigation will look into FIFA’s surprise “Front” Category tickets—an unannounced higher tier that showed up midway through the ticket process—reports that fans received tickets in a different category than they purchased, and FIFA’s dynamic pricing strategy that has continually increased costs.

“No one should be manipulated into paying sky-high prices for seats, and fans should be able to trust that the tickets they purchase will be the ones they receive,” New York attorney general Letitia James said in a statement.