Trump's DOJ drops the FIFA bribery case, calls bribery no priority

In December 2025, the U.S. Justice Department moved to dismiss the criminal case against Hernán López, a former 21st Century Fox executive, and Full Play Group, an Argentine sports-marketing firm, both convicted in 2023 of participating in a scheme to bribe soccer officials in exchange for lucrative broadcasting rights. The two had been found guilty as part of the sweeping U.S. investigation into corruption in international soccer, first unveiled in 2015, in which FIFA officials were the recipients of the bribes. After a trial judge acquitted the pair and a federal appeals court reinstated the convictions, the Justice Department, under U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella of the Eastern District of New York, asked that the indictments be dismissed with prejudice; prosecutors said the prosecution no longer fit the administration's priorities. A judge granted the dismissal in May 2026. The closure advanced FIFA's long-stated goal of shedding the reputation for corruption that the prosecutions had created, and came as FIFA president Gianni Infantino courted Trump ahead of the World Cup.