Former Brazilian Soccer President Sentenced

(ATR) Former Brazilian Football Confederation president Jose Maria Marin is sentenced to four years in jail for bribery and corruption tied to the FIFAGate scandal.

The 86-year-old Marin was also fined $1.2 million and ordered to pay $3.3 million in damages.

The prosecution had been seeking a 10-year sentence but U.S. District Court Judge Pamela Chen opted for a shorter punishment in the first sentencing in the long-running U.S. investigation of FIFA corruption that involved a conviction at trial.

Marin and former Paraguayan Football Federation President Juan Angel Napout were found guilty by the U.S. federal court in December 2017 on charges of wire fraud and racketeering regarding media rights for the Copa Libertadores and Copa America soccer tournaments. Marin was found guilty of additional charges stemming from wire fraud for media rights regarding the Brazil Cup annual tournament.

In total, Marin was found guilty on six of the seven charges brought against him, while Napout, a former President of the South American Football Confederation, was convicted on three of five charges. Chen had both men immediately jailed after the verdicts.

Napout’s sentencing is scheduled for August 29. It remains to be seen if today’s decision by Chen to go against the prosecution’s wishes and give Marin only four years is an indication of what awaits Napout and the remaining defendants who have yet to be sentenced.

The ongoing FIFA scandal began in 2015 when Swiss and U.S. authorities arrested a number of executives from the world soccer body ahead of the 2015 Congress in Zurich.

More than 20 executives plead guilty to U.S. authorities on bribery charges in order to avoid a trial. More than 40 senior football and marketing executives and several companies were implicated.

Homepage photo: Wikipedia

Written by Gerard Farek

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