IMPORTANT: The full content of this page is available to premium users only.
In court testimony on July 4, 2019, Sergio Cabral, the former governor of Rio de Janeiro, said he paid $2 million to buy votes so that Rio would be chosen to host the 2016 Olympic Games. Cabral told Judge Marcelo Bretas that Carlos Nuzman, then the chair of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, was in charge of the negotiations. In 2017, Brazilian authorities arrested Nuzman during an investigation into the alleged bribery scheme. He denies wrongdoing. Cabral testified the payment produced a promise that between six and nine members of the International Olympic Committee would vote in favor of holding the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Cabral testified that Lamine Diack, former chief of the International Association of Athletics Federations, and his son Papa asked for payments of $1.5 million and $500,000 respectively. Papa Diack has characterized the allegations as “the biggest lie in the history of world sport.” French authorities arrested Lamine Diack in 2015, accusing him of receiving payments for deferring sanctions against Russian Olympic performers who used drugs to enhance their performances. He has denied wrongdoing.