Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the head of the Brazilian Olympic Committee for more than two decades, was sentenced to 30 years and 11 months in jail for allegedly buying votes for Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympics.
He was found guilty of corruption, criminal organization, money laundering, and tax evasion. Nuzman and his lawyer didn’t comment on this decision yet and won’t be jailed until all his appeals are heard. Carlos Nuzman resigned as COB president in October 2017.
“The reasons that led Carlos Nuzman to criminal practices are highly approachable. (He has) shown himself to be a greedy person. And that, despite having full knowledge of the criminal nature of his activities. Used his public role to carry out crimes,” Bretas said in the ruling.
Former Rio governor Sergio Cabral, Arthur Soares, and Rio 2016 operations chief Leonardo Gryner also found guilty
Sergio Cabral, entrepreneur Arthur Soares, and Leonardo Gryner were also found guilty. According to investigators, all three of them coordinated the payment of a two million US-dollar bribe. This was given to the former president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, Lamine Diack, and his son Papa Diack in exchange for votes for Olympic hosting rights. Cabral was sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison. While Gryner received a term of 13 years and 10 months.
Cabral told Bretas two years ago, he had paid about $2 million in exchange for up to six votes in the IOC meeting that awarded Rio the Olympic and Paralympic Games. He said the money had come from a debt owed to him by Soares. He added that another $500,000 was paid later to Diack’s son to secure three more votes of IOC members.
Rio won the bid against Chicago, Tokyo, and Madrid to host the 2016 Games.