Judge Tosses Conviction of Ex-Fox Exec Hernan Lopez in Soccer Bribery Case

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor A federal judge threw out the conviction of Hernan Lopez, former head of Fox International Channels, who had been found guilty of bribing FIFA soccer officials in exchange for a broadcasting-rights deal. “We are obviously pleased with Judge Chen’s thorough and correct decision,” David Sarratt, a lawyer for Lopez, said in a statement to the AP. “We have never stopped believing in our client’s innocence.” Lopez, who after leaving Fox founded podcast network Wondery, was convicted in March 2023 by a jury on charges that he participated in a scheme to bribe South American soccer officials in order to secure exclusive broadcasting rights for 21st Century Fox.

In addition, sports marketing company Full Play Group was found guilty for its part in the alleged scheme. In a Sept. 1 ruling, U.S.

District Judge Pamela Chen granted Lopez’s motion for acquittal and also overturned the conviction of Full Play. The judge cited in part the unanimous U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this May to reverse the wire fraud conspiracy conviction of former Joseph Percoco, an aide to former New York Gov.

Mario Cuomo. The Supreme Court held that the jury was not correctly instructed about when and how a private citizen can be convicted under the honest-services fraud statute, which is defined under U.S. law as a scheme “to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.” “The Supreme Court’s latest wire fraud decisions — especially Percoco — and the absence of precedent applying honest services wire fraud to foreign commercial bribery, requires this court to find that [the wire-fraud statute] does not criminalize the conduct alleged in this case and that therefore the evidence at trial was insufficient to