Disney Taps Hogan Lovells Partner for Return Trip to Company

Walt Disney Co., which is deepening its ties to the sports betting industry, brought back Rafael Ribeiro as deputy chief compliance officer after he left the company earlier this year.

Ribeiro left is role as a partner at Hogan Lovells in Miami to rejoin Disney as a member of its global policy, legal, and compliance team, according to a person familiar with the matter. The rationale for Disney’s decision to bring back Ribeiro, whom it initially recruited in mid-2021 as an assistant general counsel for global ethics and compliance, wasn’t immediately clear.

His move comes a half-year after Ribeiro touted his reunion with Hogan Lovells, which first hired him in 2015. Ribeiro said in January that he hoped to help Hogan Lovells clients navigate new anti-corruption laws in Latin America while working with the global law firm’s sports, media, and entertainment group.

Disney has been embroiled in an ongoing political dispute with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), whose controversial bid to take control of a special tax district home to Walt Disney World Resort has led both sides to retain high-powered teams of litigators for a lawsuit filed by the Burbank, Calif.-based company.

Ribeiro didn’t respond to a request for comment. He returned to Disney as an associate general counsel last month, according to his LinkedIn profile and registration with the Florida Bar. Ribeiro reports to Dorothy Attwood, an attorney and longtime vice president of global public policy for the company.

Ribeiro is at least the second Hogan Lovells alum to take a key in-house legal role at Disney. Associate general counsel Jolene Negre, a former associate at a Hogan Lovells predecessor, last year joined Disney’s executive leadership team as the company’s corporate secretary.

Disney Changes

Disney’s general counsel, Horacio Gutierrez, joined the media conglomerate last year to succeed its retired legal chief Alan Braverman. Gutierrez took over Disney’s top compliance duties earlier this year from Alicia Schwarz, whose job was one of 7,000 eliminated at the company.

The mass layoffs followed the return of Robert Iger, a veteran Disney chief executive who implemented the reductions in force as part of a $5.5 billion plan to cut costs. Last month Iger tapped two former Disney executives to help the company evaluate strategic partners for its ESPN sports networks.

On Aug. 9, Disney’s ESPN and casino operator Penn Entertainment Inc. announced a $1.5 billion, 10-year deal that will rebrand the latter’s sportsbook as ESPN Bet. The exclusive agreement, which involved lawyers from at least four law firms, saw Penn sell for $1 its sports and pop culture media subsidiary, Barstool Sports Inc., back to that company’s founder, David Portnoy.

A securities filing shows that Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz partners Daniel Neff and Zachary Podolsky advised Penn on the accord, while Disney turned to a team of lawyers led by Cravath, Swaine & Moore partners George Schoen and Daniel Cerqueira. Cravath has often worked on key deals for Disney.

Barstool turned to Greenberg Glusker partners Katy Spillers and Jesse Saivar, both of whom previously advised the company on its sale to Penn, to handle its reacquisition by Portnoy. Barstool general counsel Paul Anderson also worked on the deal along with Portnoy’s personal lawyers Ryan Lewendon and Blake Horn from boutique firm Giannuzzi Lewendon.