Judge Wants DOJ to Justify Dismissal of FIFA Bribery Indictments

Jan. 31, 2026, 2:58 PM UTC

A federal judge in Brooklyn is requiring the Justice Department to provide a legal basis for dropping a long-running international soccer corruption case and explain the impact on related convictions and penalties.

In an overnight order Friday, US District Judge Pamela Chen gave prosecutors a Feb. 20 deadline to defend their recent request to dismiss two FIFA bribery indictments with prejudice “in the interests of justice.”

The demand for a government brief comes after Bloomberg Law reported last month that DOJ’s solicitor general effectively ordered Brooklyn prosecutors to abandon the sprawling case amid pushback from the district’s Trump-appointed US attorney. ...

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