The penalty is heavy. Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the former president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (1995 to 2017) and the organizing committee for the Rio 2016 Games, was sentenced by Brazilian courts to 30 years and 11 months in prison for corruption, criminal organization, money laundering and tax evasion. The Brazilian leader, a former member of the IOC, was notably accused of having sought to buy votes during the bidding campaign for the Summer Games in 2016, where Rio de Janeiro was opposed to Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid. The sentence was handed down by judge Marcelo Bretas, who also sentenced three other defendants to prison terms: the former governor of Rio, Sergio Cabral; businessman Arthur Soares; and Leonardo Gryner, the former general director of operations for the Rio 2016 Games. At the end of the investigation, justice estimated that the four men had organized an operation aimed at corrupting the former president of the International Athletics Federation (IAAF), Lamine Diack. The Senegalese was sentenced to four years in prison, two of which were suspended, in September 2020 by the Paris court in connection with a case of money laundering and corruption linked to doping in Russia. The judgment of Marcelo Bretas designates Carlos Nuzman as “ one of the main people responsible for promoting and organizing the criminal system, thanks to his position within the Brazilian Olympic Committee and in front of international authorities“. The judge also declared that the former sports director “ directed and coordinated the action of other agents, clearly as a leader » to obtain illegal support within the IOC. Aged 79, Carlos Nuzman appealed. He will not be detained until all his appeals have been heard.
