Former Brazilian Soccer Official Receives Prison Sentence for Racketeering and Corruption

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Rampant Corruption 

A U.S. district judge sentenced former Brazilian soccer federation president José Maria Marin to four years in prison. Marin also has to pay $3.3 million in forfeiture and a fine of $1.2 million.

The U.S. district court in Brooklyn convicted Marin of conspiratorial racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering on Aug. 22. More specifically, he accepted millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for media and marketing rights to soccer tournaments.

Marin was first arrested in 2015. Until then, Marin was the former head of the Brazilian soccer federation, Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (CBF). He was also a member of various FIFA standing committees and a representative of CONMEBOL, the confederation responsible for soccer in South America.

“Marin, like his co-conspirators, sold out the sport he was meant to serve to satisfy his own greed,” stated United States Attorney Richard Donoghue. “Now he has been brought to justice and punished for his criminal conduct. Today’s sentence shows that for all their power and prestige, the soccer officials who corrupted ‘the beautiful game’ are not above the law.”