Federal judge drops charges against ex-Fox executive in soccer corruption case

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge dismissed charges against a convicted former Fox television executive Wednesday after a prosecutor said charges brought in a U.S.-led effort to battle corruption in international soccer “doesn’t fit within” the priorities of the Trump administration.

Judge Pamela K. Chen accepted the explanation provided by U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. about why the government wanted to dismiss the indictment against Hernan Lopez.

A smiling Lopez, the former CEO of Fox International Channels, later left the Brooklyn federal courthouse, telling reporters he was relieved that “a case that never should have started is finally over.”

Nocella told Chen that the administration preferred to focus on domestic and foreign terrorist organizations, national security, narcotics trafficking, human trafficking and violent gangs.

The judge said Nocella’s stated reason, along with an explanation in a written document submitted to the court, “does provide sufficient justification” to accept the request to dismiss the indictment.

Lopez and Full Play Group SA, a South American sports media company, were convicted in 2023 of paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to nab broadcasting rights to the World Cup and other top soccer matches. But they were subsequently granted an acquittal by Chen.

An appeals court reinstated the convictions in July, but additional appeals followed and the fate of the prosecution had been uncertain.

Chen said during Wednesday’s hearing that she was not basing her decision to dismiss the indictment “in any way” on her prior decision granting the acquittal.

Prosecutors told the Supreme Court in December that the government has now determined that “dismissal of this criminal case is in the interests of justice,” though they did not expand on their rationale.

Before ruling Wednesday, Chen asked the various parties to say how a broader decade-old corruption case related to TV rights for international soccer tournaments, including numerous convictions, would be affected by the indictment dismissal.

FIFA, soccer’s governing body, said in a court filing two weeks ago that it agreed with the U.S. government that dismissing charges against Lopez and Full Play “would have no direct effect on the convictions of other defendants.”

FIFA said it has worked closely with the Department of Justice “in its efforts to root out corruption in football” and had taken disciplinary action, including lifetime bans to address misconduct the United States had unearthed.

The Justice Department told the judge in a March 12 letter that every other prosecution in the case had its own particular facts and circumstances.

In its filing, FIFA said the U.S. government had already turned over $201 million to FIFA and other organizations to disburse funds to support soccer-related projects with community impact worldwide.

Among projects FIFA cited were those establishing after-school soccer leagues in poor neighborhoods in Miami, the refurbished of community soccer fields in Ohio, Tennessee and Washington, D.C., the establishment of training programs for teachers and coaches in the Caribbean, and the hosting of children’s soccer tournaments in South America.