Record Company, Exec Fined in Payola Case

The leading independent Latin music record label and its president were sentenced in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on charges related to paying radio stations to play songs by its artists. Fonovisa Inc., with U.S. headquarters in Van Nuys, was fined $700,000. The company, owned by Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa, had earlier pleaded guilty to one count of payola and a felony tax count stemming from falsely reporting promotional expenses. Company President Guillermo Santiso, who had also pleaded guilty to a payola-related tax violation, was fined $200,000. Another Fonovisa executive, promotions chief Jesus Gilberto Moreno, has admitted paying $2,000 to a radio station program director. He is set to be sentenced Oct. 18. Moreno, who faces a year in jail and a $100,000 fine, is the first senior record industry executive to be successfully prosecuted under the 40-year-old payola statute.