Carlos Arthur Nuzman (born 17 March 1942) is a Brazilian lawyer and former volleyball player, having competed professionally from 1957 to 1972 and represented the national team between 1962 and 1968. Nuzman was part of the first Brazilian male volleyball team at the 1964 Summer Olympics, when the sport debuted at the Olympic Games. He later became an administrator, with the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation (CBV) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). He was the leader of the Rio de Janeiro bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics and was subsequently appointed head of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Rio 2016).

Carlos Nuzman
President of the Brazilian Olympic Committee
In office
5 October 1995 – 11 October 2017
Preceded byAndré Gustavo Richer
Succeeded byPaulo Wanderley Teixeira
President of the South American Sports Organization
In office
2003–2017
Preceded byAntonio Rodríguez
Succeeded byCamilo Pérez López Moreira
President of the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation
In office
1975–1996
Preceded byRoberto Moreira Calçada
Succeeded byAry Graça
President of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games
In office
12 August 2012 – 21 August 2016
IOC PresidentJacques Rogge (2012–13)
Thomas Bach (2013–16)
Preceded bySebastian Coe
Succeeded byYoshirō Mori
Chair of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games
In office
2009–2016
Preceded byCommittee established
Succeeded byPosition dissolved
Personal details
Born
Carlos Arthur Nuzman

(1942-03-17) 17 March 1942 (age 82)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
NationalityBrazilian,
Russian (since 2011)
Spouses
Patrícia de Brito e Cunha Engelke
(m. 1980; died 1996)
Márcia Peltier
(m. 1998; div. 2016)
OccupationSports official
ProfessionLawyer
Volleyball career
Personal information
Height185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight78 kg (172 lb)
National team
1962–68Brazil

Biography

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Nuzman was born in 1942 in Rio de Janeiro. His grandparents were Russian-Jewish immigrants.[1] He was president of the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation (CBV) for twenty years (1975–1995), a period where the national teams excelled at international level.[2] Since 1995, Nuzman is the president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Pan American Sports Organization (PASO).

In 2011 he was granted Russian citizenship[3]

Nuzman served as the head of the Rio Olympics Organizing Committee. He was also the leader of the successful Rio bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. He was inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2007.[4][5]

October 2017: Arrest & Investigation

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On 5 September 2017, a new initiative of the Car Wash operation, called, "Unfair Play", took place in Rio de Janeiro; Nuzman stands accused of bribing the International Olympic Committee to elect the city as the home of the 2016 Summer Olympics.[6] One month later, Nuzman was arrested amid an investigation into a vote-buying scheme to bring the Olympics to Rio de Janeiro. As an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee, he was held for questioning in September 2017 by Brazilian and French authorities. They say he is a central figure in channeling $2 million to Lamine Diack, a former IOC member from Senegal who helped secure votes when Rio was picked by the IOC in 2009.[7] After fifteen days of imprisonment, Nuzman's sentence was reduced to house arrest and probation, on the condition of delivering his passport, being restrained from both leaving Rio de Janeiro and accessing COB's facilities, and presenting himself regularly to justice.[8] Nuzman's trial had former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and famed footballer Pelé among its witnesses.[9]

November 2021: Sentenced to 30 years

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Judge Marcelo Bretas, from the 7th federal criminal court in Rio de Janeiro, sentenced the former president of the COB (Olympic Committee of Brazil), Carlos Arthur Nuzman to 30 years, 11 months and eight days in prison for the crimes of passive corruption, organization crime, money laundering and currency evasion.

The process is the result of the Unfair Play operation, which investigated the purchase of votes to choose Rio as the venue for the 2016 Olympics. Nuzman is still free to appeal the decision. His defense said the judge convicted him without evidence and that this will be corrected when the court hears the appeal.

It was the Federal Public Ministry that filed a complaint against the former president of the Olympic Committee of Brazil (COB) Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the former governor of Rio, Sérgio Cabral Filho, the businessman Arthur César de Menezes Soares Filho, the former director of operations of the Rio 2016 committee, Leonardo Gryner, Senegalese athletics leaders Lamine Diack and his son Papa Diack. As they reside in France and Senegal, the cases of foreign leaders were dismissed, as occurred with Reu Arthur, who also resides in the United States.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ Marcus M. Gilban (16 June 2016). "Top officials put a Jewish stamp on the Rio Olympics". JTA.
  2. ^ "Era Nuzman transforma CBV na entidade mais vitoriosa do esporte olímpico brasileiro" [It was Nuzman who transformed the CBV into the most victorious Brazilian entity in Olympic sport]. UOL Olimpíadas 2012 (in Brazilian Portuguese). 9 August 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Decree of President of Russia. Granting of citizenship to Carlos Arthur Nuzman". pravo.gov.ru (in Russian). 26 July 2011. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  4. ^ "Carlos Nuzman". International Volleyball Hall of Fame. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  5. ^ "Mr Carlos Arthur Nuzman". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  6. ^ Nogueira, Italo (5 September 2017). "Lava Jato Looks Into Possible Vote-Buying in Decision for Rio to Host 2016 Olympics". Folha de S.Paulo. Translated by Mathewson, Thomas. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  7. ^ "Brazilian Olympics chief arrested in Rio". BBC News. 5 October 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  8. ^ STJ manda soltar Carlos Arthur Nuzman, ex-presidente do COB
  9. ^ "Pelé diz que suspeito de receber propina para vender voto na Rio-2016 era 'apaixonado pelo Brasil'". 5 June 2018.
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Sporting positions
Preceded by President of Organizing Committee for Summer Olympic Games
2016
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Brazilian Olympic Committee
1995–2017
Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation
1975–1996
Succeeded by