Former Rio Olympic president gets 30 years in prison

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

Canada: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

Carlos Nuzman, the former Rio 2016 and Brazilian Olympic Committee (BOC) president, has been sentenced to 30 years and 11 months in prison for buying votes for Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

The 79-year-old was found guilty of corruption, criminal organisation, money laundering and tax evasion. Nuzman, who is appealing the verdict, will not be jailed until the appeals process has been completed.

Former Rio de Janeiro governor Sérgio Cabral, the former director general of Rio 2016 Leonardo Gryner, and businessman Arthur Soares were also jailed for their involvement. Cabral is already serving a 200-year sentence for several corruption cases.

Nuzman had been formally charged in October 2017 over an alleged payment of US$2 million made to secure votes from International Olympic Committee (IOC) members to host the 2016 Games. Nuzman had denied running a criminal organisation, money laundering and violating currency laws.

Cabral had said in 2019 that he had paid US$2 million in exchange for up to six votes, adding that the money had come from a debt owed to him by Soares. Cabral also said that another US$500,000 was paid to Papa Massata Diack, the son of then IOC member and International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) president Lamine Diack, with the intention of securing three more votes of IOC members.

Papa Massata Diack had previously denied the allegations and, speaking to The Guardian in 2019, accused Cabral of trying to cut a deal.

The judgement against Nuzman also revealed that between July 2014 and September 2017 he had hidden and concealed the origin and ownership of 16 kilos of gold worth more than BRL1.49 million (US$260,000), which had arisen from illegal activity.

The investigation had been launched after French newspaper Le Monde reported that IOC members had been bribed three days before the organisation’s session in Copenhagen in October 2009, where Rio were awarded the Olympics.

The judge in the case, Marcelo Bretas, concluded Nuzman was the architect of the scheme.

“The culpability is high, as Carlos Arthur Nuzman was the main creator of the illicit scheme examined in these records and thus acted taking advantage of the high position achieved over 22 years as president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, which is why his conduct must be valued more rigorously than that of any corrupt person,” said Bretas.

“The convict dedicated his public career to making Rio de Janeiro the host city for the Olympics, however, despite such social responsibility, he chose to act against morality and public property.”