FIFA on Monday slapped a lifetime ban on the disgraced former boss of
Brazilian football, Jose Maria Marin after a US court convicted him of
massive corruption.
The 86-year-old Marin was one of the key figures swept up in the graft
scandal that began with a series of stunning arrests in 2015 and
subsequently upended world football.
He had already been sentenced to four years in a US prison after a court
in New York found him guilty in connection with nearly $6.6 million in
bribes from sports marketing companies in exchange for contracts to
broadcast major tournaments.
But the decision from FIFA’s independent ethics judges definitively confirms that Marin is finished in football.
FIFA’s ethics committee said in a statement that Marin had participated in various bribery schemes.
Judges “banned him for life from all football-related activities
(administrative, sports or any other) at both national and international
level”, a FIFA statement said.
FIFA also imposed a 1 million Swiss franc ($1 million) fine against
Marin, once one of the most powerful figures in world football.
Following his May 2015 arrest at a luxury hotel in Zurich, Marin spent
five months in a prison in Switzerland before being extradited to the
United States.
He posted bail of $15 million and spent two years living in luxury at
Trump Tower, the Fifth Avenue skyscraper best known for housing the
penthouse and company headquarters of the US president.
But his life of excess dramatically came to a halt at his sentencing in
August, when he broke down in tears over the “nightmare” his family had
endured.
