US Justice today sentenced Brazil's José María Marin, president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), to four years in prison, between 2012 and 2015, in the framework of the corruption scandal known as FIFAGate.

Judge Pamela Chen revealed the sentence against Marin, accused of conspiracy for organized crime, electronic fraud and money laundering, and ordered the payment of USD 3.3 million and a fine of 1.2 million, according to a statement from the Department of Justice. Justice of the United States.

Marin, 86, had been found guilty in December of last year for receiving bribes in exchange for the granting of television rights in the region and his sentence was still pending. "Today's decision shows all those powerful managers who corrupted and damaged that 'beautiful game' that is not above the law and justice," said Richard Donoghue, one of the prosecutors in the case who asked for a 10-year sentence. 

Marin, 86, had been found guilty in December of last year for receiving bribes in exchange for the granting of television rights in the region and his sentence was still pending. "Today's decision demonstrates all those powerful managers who corrupted and damaged that beautiful investigation against Marin, who claimed to be innocent and called for a trial, including secret recordings, witnesses, emails, bank movements and financial records filed by the prosecution. The former president of the CBF, who was arrested in April 2015 in Switzerland and has been in prison since December, is the first to receive a penalty of this kind among the more than two dozen former directors and companies involved in the scandal.

It is expected that in a week judge Chen will reveal the sentence against the Paraguayan Juan Angel Napout, who was convicted of three criminal charges on the same day as Marin. In the investigation, the US government analyzed more than two million documents between 2000 and 2015.

One of the key witnesses of the trial was Argentine media entrepreneur Alejandro Burzaco, former CEO of the company "Tournaments and Competitions", who confessed to several crimes in exchange for a reduction in his sentence.

The well-known FIFAGate scandal, which broke out in 2015, exposed the existence of an intricate network of corruption and bribery, which splashed onto the governing body of world football.

Source: DPA Agency