Why Did the US Really Drop a FIFAGate Bribery Case, Months Before the World Cup?
After a decade, prosecutors have suddenly dropped a landmark football corruption case, where colossal bribes were allegedly given over football TV rights in the US. The timing is very convenient.
The US Justice Department has abruptly dropped one of the last cases coming out of FIFAGate, a decade-old bribery case against former Fox executive Hernán López and Argentina’s Full Play Group. The New York trial had accused López ) and Full Play of scheming to pay millions in bribes to South American soccer officials for broadcast rights, from Copa Libertadores club games to World Cup qualifiers, and even insider information on World Cup bid processes.
The case was a rare trial to come out of the DOJ’s landmark 2015 FIFA corruption probe and cast a spotlight on Fox’s role in the global soccer media market.
Its collapse marks a convenient retreat by US anti‑corruption enforcement in sport just months before the country co‑hosts the 2026 World Cup. The decision follows a broader rollback of foreign‑bribery prosecutions under Trump‑era policies and recent court rulings that have made such cases harder to win.
What was the case about?
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