Rio Olympics Chief Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison
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Carlos Arthur Nuzman has been sentenced to 30 years in prison on the count of buying votes so that Rio hosts the 2016 Olympics.
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Carlos Nuzman is found guilty of corruption, among other things.
The head of the Brazilian Olympic Committee and the 2016 Rio organizing committee, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison and 11 months in jail on the count of buying votes for Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympics.
Nuzman, who is 79 years old, was also found guilty of corruption, criminal organization, money laundering, and tax evasion. However, he will not be jailed until all his appeals are heard.
The sentence was announced on Thursday by Judge Marcelo Bretas, who also sentenced former Rio Governor Sergio Cabral, businessman Arthur Soares, and Leonardo Gryner, who was the Rio 2016 Committee Director-General of operations to jail. The convicted men, along with Nuzman, bribed Lamine Diack, the former president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, and his son, Papa Massata Diack, for votes. Papa Massata denied such allegations, accusing Cabral of cutting off a deal.
Bretas’ decision deems Nuzman as “one of the main responsibles for the promotion and the organization of the criminal scheme, given his position in the Brazilian Olympic Committee and before international authorities.”
In September 2020, a French court sentenced Lamine Diack to four years in jail on the count of money laundering and corruption, whereas Papa Massata was sentenced to five years in prison and fined 1 million pounds in his absence, both men clarifying their intention to appeal to the court's decision.
Cabral confessed to the judge that he had paid about $2 million in exchange for up to six votes in the meeting with the International Olympic Committee, which announced that Brazil will be holding the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016. He used Soares' debt, which was owed to him, for the bribery.
Cabral further revealed that $500,000 was given to Papa Massata to acquire 3 more votes.
Bretas, after the sentence, said the conclusions will be sent to Senegal and France where Massata and Lamine live, respectively.
The investigation started in 2017 after French newspaper Le Monde found, 3 days before the announcement of Rio hosting the Olympics, that members were bribed for that decision, beating Chicago, Tokyo, and Madrid.
