A federal judge has thrown out bribery, wire fraud and money laundering convictions against Argentine sports marketing company Full Play Group. Partner Carlos Ortiz and Associate Kayley Sullivan represented Full Play in its appeal of the convictions before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. A jury had convicted our client earlier this year on charges of bribing soccer officials in South America.
On Sept. 1, District Court Judge Pamela Chen tossed all of the convictions, writing in a 55-page order that she agreed with Ortiz and Sullivan's argument that there is no U.S. criminal jurisdiction over bribery allegations related to a private South American soccer confederation.
Multiple news outlets reported the story.
AP explained that a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision this past spring laid the groundwork for Judge Chen’s decision. In May, the high court threw out corruption convictions against a number of individuals related to an economic development project. In recent years, federal prosecutors have been repeatedly accused of overreach in public corruption cases, according to AP.
Reuters quoted Ortiz, who said his client is grateful. “We very much appreciate the court’s complete vindication,” he said.
Ortiz told BNN Bloomberg that Full Play appreciates Judge Chen’s “well-reasoned decision.”
Other articles include:
- Rolling Stone. (“Judge Throws Out Conviction of Former Fox Exec in FIFA Bribery Case”).
- New York Law Journal ("Recent US Supreme Court Rulings in New York Corruption Cases Nullify ‘FIFA Gate’ Convictions”).
- Global Investigations Review ("US judge stays batch of Fifa sentencings”).