Two soccer bribery convictions reinstated by US appeals court

A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday reinstated the convictions of a former Fox executive and an Argentine sports marketing company for trying to bribe soccer officials in exchange for lucrative broadcasting contracts.

In a 3-0 decision, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a Brooklyn judge erred in throwing out the March 2023 jury verdicts against Hernan Lopez and Full Play Group because she misinterpreted a federal wire fraud law. Lopez plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, his lawyer John Gleeson said in an email, adding that "we are obviously disappointed." Full Play's lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The defendants are among more than 40 to face criminal charges in a sweeping U.S. Department of Justice probe unveiled in 2015 into soccer corruption, including at the sport's world governing body FIFA. At least 31 defendants pleaded guilty, and two other soccer officials were convicted by a jury in 2017.

Prosecutors said Lopez, a former chief executive of Fox International Channels, schemed to bribe officials at South American soccer federation CONMEBOL to win rights for that continent's most popular club tournament, Copa Libertadores. Full Play was accused of scheming to bribe officials at CONMEBOL and the North American federation CONCACAF to win rights to Copa Libertadores and World Cup qualifying matches.

FRAUD LAW 'PRESUMPTIVELY' COVERED BRIBERY In September 2023, U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen said Lopez's and Full Play's convictions could not stand because a federal law addressing honest services wire fraud did not reach alleged foreign commercial bribery.

Chen also voided the defendants' money laundering convictions, because they were based on the fraud convictions. But in Wednesday's decision, Circuit Judge John Walker said the wire fraud law applied to the defendants' role in causing bribed soccer officials to breach duties they owed their foreign employers.

"The nature of defendants conduct (bribery), coupled with the character of the relationship between the bribed officials and the organizations to whom they owed a duty of loyalty (employer-employee relationships), place the schemes presumptively within the scope of (the law)," Walker wrote. Walker added that the bribery wasn't entirely foreign in nature, saying Lopez and Fox were based in the United States, and bribery victims had significant U.S. ties.

The appeals court returned the case to Chen, including to address for the first time whether prosecutors proved a conspiracy to deceive CONMEBOL. Gleeson said Lopez's Supreme Court appeal will focus on the honest services wire fraud law, and defense lawyers "have no doubt that our client will eventually be fully vindicated."

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