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Holding the government accountable, even against long odds and through complex litigation, is often the key to succeeding in corporate criminal defense. A team of our White Collar attorneys, led by Partner Carlos F. Ortiz and Associate Kayley B. Sullivan, recently won a full reversal of the conviction of our client Full Play Group in a matter involving allegations of wire fraud, money laundering and bribes in international sports marketing agreements.

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Our attorneys served as lead counsel in a two-month jury trial held in January to March 2023. The jury trial resulted in conviction for our client, but our attorneys immediately filed motions to set aside the verdict.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York recently issued a 55-page order granting our motion, fully vacating the convictions of our clients. The court agreed with the arguments our attorneys made at earlier stages of the case, finding that there is no U.S. criminal jurisdiction over the bribery allegations related to a private South American soccer confederation as charged in the third superseding indictment.

The federal district court ultimately concurred with our argument and reversed the conviction based on two recently decided U.S. Supreme Court decisions (<em>Ciminelli v. U.S</em>. and <em>Percoco v. U.S</em>.), which warned prosecutors not to stretch the honest services wire fraud statute beyond its traditional applications.

This matter has been particularly significant and complex because it involves international RICO, bribery and money laundering laws. Many of the issues are novel, involving foreign companies, contracts and sports tournaments. Discovery involved more than 20 million documents, many in a foreign language. Also, meetings are frequently not in English, as our client company’s staff are native Spanish speakers.

“Our client is grateful for the court’s well-reasoned decision,” Ortiz said. “It has been a long journey and our client greatly appreciates the court’s vacating the conviction. We could not be more pleased for our client, and we maintained complete faith throughout that our client would be vindicated of all charges.”

Defending businesses in litigation: White collar team reverses convictions for sports marketing company

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