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FIFA has slammed a life ban on Brazilian soccer official, Jose Maria Marin, who has been convicted of corruption charges in the United States, Associated Press reports.
Marin, 86, who led Brazil’s organizing committee for the 2014 World Cup, was sentenced in August to four years in prison for racketeering, money laundering and wire fraud.
According to FIFA, Marin took bribes linked to media and marketing rights for South American and Brazilian soccer competitions.
Prosecutors in federal court said at his 2017 trial that Marin took $6.6 million in bribes. He was ordered to forfeit $3.3 million and pay a $1.2 million fine. The FIFA ethics committee also imposed a $1 million fine.
Marin was arrested at a luxury Zurich hotel in May 2015 as part of a sweeping American investigation of corruption linked to FIFA officials. After being extradited to the United States that year, he was released on bail and lived in his Trump Tower apartment in Manhattan while awaiting trial.