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Sep 2, 2023 · Hernan Lopez, the former CEO of Fox International Channels, 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.
Mar 9, 2023 · Prosecutors said that Hernán López, who until 2016 worked for a unit of what was then known as 21st Century Fox, had taken part in a complex scheme to make millions of dollars in secret annual...
- Ken Bensinger
Mar 9, 2023 · March 9 (Reuters) - A Brooklyn federal jury on Thursday convicted a former 21st Century Fox executive and acquitted another after a trial over an alleged scheme to bribe South American soccer...
Sep 3, 2023 · 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...
- Todd Spangler
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A former Fox executive was convicted Thursday of paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to nab broadcasting rights to the World Cup and other top soccer matches. A second ex-executive was acquitted.
A Brooklyn federal jury deliberated four days before returning the verdicts. Hernan Lopez, the former CEO of Fox International Channels, was convicted. Carlos Martinez, who headed the Latin America affiliate, was acquitted.
Prosecutors said the case revealed the corruption of international soccer. Defense lawyers said the former Fox execs were framed by an admitted criminal who was trying to minimize his own punishment.
An emotional Lopez hugged supporters in the courtroom after hearing the verdict, while his attorneys appeared stunned. The judge allowed him to be released on bail pending sentencing.
John Gleeson, an attorney for Lopez, asserted there were "legal and factual errors."
"We look forward to vindicating our client on appeal," he said.
Martinez's lawyer, Steve McCool, said "justice was served today for Carlos."
"The jurors heard that he was an innocent man, and that he should never have been here in the first place," McCool said outside court.
A South American sports media and marketing company also was convicted of graft allegations — involving different TV rights. Full Play Group SA, incorporated in Uruguay, was accused of paying bribes for the rights to the Copa America, a quadrennial national team competition, as well as to World Cup qualifying matches.
New York-based Fox Corp., which split from a subsidiary of international channels during a restructuring in 2019, was not charged and has denied any involvement in the bribery scandal.
FIFA went on to expand and rename its executive leadership group. Then-President Sepp Blatter was forced out and replaced by current President Gianni Infantino, who has insisted the organization has reformed. However, it has in recent years been criticized for tolerating alleged abuse of migrant workers during the construction of World Cup stadiums used in Qatar last year and of maintaining inferior payments and tournament arrangements for women players.
In the Lopez and Martinez case, prosecutors' star witness was the executives' former business associate Alejandro Burzaco. He has cooperated in soccer corruption investigations since his 2015 arrest in a related bribery case.
During 11 days on the witness stand, Burzaco said he and the two executives paid millions of dollars in bribes to undermine competing bids for the TV rights to the Southern Hemisphere's biggest annual tournament, the Copa Libertadores, and help land broadcasting rights to the sport's most lucrative competition, the World Cup.
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Mar 9, 2023 · Hernan Lopez, former head of Fox International Channels and founder of podcast startup Wondery, was convicted on charges that he participated in a scheme to bribe South American soccer...
Mar 9, 2023 · Hernan Lopez, the former chief executive of Fox International Channels, was convicted. Carlos Martinez, who headed the Latin America affiliate, was acquitted. Prosecutors said the case revealed...
