By Kara Scannell, CNN
(CNN) — A federal judge dismissed criminal charges against a media executive in a long-running bribery case involving FIFA after the US Justice Department said the case no longer fits the Trump administration’s priorities.
The decision came on the 11-year anniversary of DOJ’s takedown and announcement of initial charges in 2015 against 14 defendants for an alleged bribery scheme spanning over two decades. It reached into the highest levels of FIFA, the governing body for global soccer, and other entities associated with the organization. The cases caused a reckoning within FIFA, leading to the resignation of top officials.
It’s the second high-profile bribery case the Justice Department has dropped during President Donald Trump’s second term. Last year, DOJ withdrew charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, which led to an exodus of prosecutors from the Justice Department’s public integrity section in Washington, DC, and the resignation of the acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Joseph Nocella, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, appeared in court on Wednesday and told the judge, “The Department of Justice does not want to use its resources to continue to pursue the prosecution.” He added, “It doesn’t fit with the administration’s priorities” which include terrorism, threats to national security, drug and human trafficking, and gangs.
Judge Pamela Chen observed to Nocella that his prosecution team was fully equipped to handle the hearing but noted, “You appear to be here by yourself.”
Nocella said he was there because he signed the motion to dismiss the case.
The prosecution had a source of pride for the federal prosecutors’ office in Brooklyn.
In court filings, DOJ said the decision to dismiss the case against Hernan Lopez, a former 21st Century Fox executive, and Full Play Group, an Argentine sports marketing company, was limited to this case and said it was not seeking to walk back convictions or guilty pleas reached with other defendants. Lopez and Full Play were accused of bribing soccer officials to win media and broadcast rights.
Lopez and Full Play were convicted at trial in 2023, but Chen later overturned the conviction. The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed her decision and reinstated the conviction. Lopez asked the US Supreme Court to hear his appeal. In December, the Justice Department took the unusual step of asking courts to dismiss the indictment.
After court, Lopez said, “Six years later a case they never should have started is finally over.”
“I am relieved,” he said.
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