Our first runners-up this week Debevoise & Plimpton partners John Gleeson and David Sarratt, who represent Hernán Lopez, the former CEO of Fox International Channels, as well as Baker & Hostetler partner Carlos Ortiz and Norton Rose Fulbright partner Mayling Blanco, who represent Argentine sports marketing company Full Play. Both Lopez and Full Play were convicted in March of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy as a part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s sweeping probe into corruption at FIFA and affiliated regional soccer bodies. But last week, U.S. District Judge Pamela Chen in Brooklyn tossed their convictions. Chen found that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in Ciminelli v. United States and Percoco v. United States, which were both handed down since the verdict, made clear that the statute the defendants were charged under does not apply to foreign commercial bribery schemes. The Debevoise team representing Lopez also includes counsel Sarah Wolf and associates Nestor Almeida, Joshua Cohen, Nicole Flores, José Martinez, Michael McGregor, Lorena Rodriguez, Kate Stein and Rebecca Urquiola. The team representing Full Play also includes Baker & Hostetler associate Kayley Sullivan and Norton Rose Fulbright associate Katey Fardelmann.
Runners-up honors also go to W. Chad Shear, Betsy Flanagan and Geoffrey Biegler of Cooley who have represented Moderna Inc. in a patent challenge to its Spikevax COVID-19 vaccine technology from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. After a favorable claim construction ruling for Moderna from Chief U.S. District Judge Colm Connolly in Delaware last month regarding the two asserted patents, the parties agreed to a stipulated judgment of non-infringement that the court signed off on last week.
