
The head of Rio’s 2016 Olympic organizing committee, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after being convicted on charges of corruption, criminal organization, money laundering, and tax evasion.
What, exactly, is the job of an Olympic organizing committee’s chairman if not corruption, criminal organization, money laundering, and tax evasion? Maybe it’s doing those things and not getting caught?
Nuzman, who is 79 years old and sure to die in prison if he serves his sentence, is appealing.
His chances, though, don’t seem great. The men that Nuzman was involved with bribing, Lamine Diack and Papa Massata Diack of the IAAF, are currently appealing their own prison sentences in France for a case involving money laundering and Russian doping.
Also facing prison with Nuzman are former Rio governor Sergio Cabral, Rio 2016 operations director Leonardo Gryner, and businessman Arthur Soares.
Cabral already has been caught up in Operation Car Wash, a massive corruption scandal in Brazil, and sentenced to decades in prison for money laundering and embezzlement.
Of course, the judge in this case is the same judge overseeing Operation Car Wash right now, Marcelo Bretas, who himself has been censured for compromising his impartiality by cozying up to Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro. Bretas has not exactly been cowed by this, continuing to like the authoritarian ruler’s posts on social media.
And, of course, Bolsonaro could at some point face charges of his own for his handling of the pandemic.
Suddenly, Ryan Lochte, who had his Brazilian charges dropped, seems like a rank amateur.
He can manage the Mets, too
Robert Griffin III believes that Tim Tebow should be the next Florida football coach. Sort of.
“Surround him with 3-4 previous head coaches on his staff to develop the vision and implementation of the program,” Griffin tweeted, after having expressed his position on a call to The Paul Finebaum Show. “Let the OC and DC coach.”
It might be easier to just, like, get a coach. Sure, the last time Florida did that, it didn’t work out with Dan Mullen, but there’s also no rule that Florida has to hire a complete nincompoop to fill the head football coach position. Instead of having the coordinators coach, if they hire a good coach, then the coach can coach. Radical concept, to be sure.