José Hawilla (11 July 1943 – 25 May 2018) was a Brazilian businessman, the owner and founder of Traffic Group, a multinational

sports marketing Sports marketing as a concept has established itself as a branch of marketing over the past few decades; however, a generally accepted definition does not exist. Academicians Kaser and Oelkers (2005, p. 9) define sports marketing as 'using spor ...

conglomerate. Hawilla was born in

São José do Rio Preto São José do Rio Preto () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is located in the northwestern region of the state, approximately from the city of São Paulo and from Brasília ...

to parents of Lebanese origin, in the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, and began his career as a sports journalist. In 1980, Hawilla founded the Traffic Group, Brazil’s largest

company. He died in a São Paulo hospital on 25 May 2018 at the age of 74 of respiratory failure. He had been ill with

pulmonary hypertension Pulmonary hypertension (PH or PHTN) is a condition of increased blood pressure in the pulmonary artery, arteries of the lungs. Symptoms include dypsnea, shortness of breath, Syncope (medicine), fainting, tiredness, chest pain, pedal edema, swell ...

, fibrosis,

emphysema Emphysema is any air-filled enlargement in the body's tissues. Most commonly emphysema refers to the permanent enlargement of air spaces (alveoli) in the lungs, and is also known as pulmonary emphysema. Emphysema is a lower respiratory tract di ...

and

throat cancer Head and neck cancer is a general term encompassing multiple cancers that can develop in the head and neck region. These include cancers of the mouth, tongue, gums and lips ( oral cancer), voice box ( laryngeal), throat ( nasopharyngeal, orophar ...

2015 FIFA corruption case

Hawilla pleaded guilty on 12 December 2014 to "

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

charges including

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

and

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

", in connection with what has become the 2015 FIFA corruption case. Hawilla agreed to forfeit $151 million, of which $25 million was paid in December 2014.

In popular culture

Argentine actor Jean Pierre Noher portrayed Hawilla in the 2020

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

original series '' El Presidente''.

References

1943 births 2018 deaths Brazilian people of Lebanese descent 20th-century Brazilian businesspeople 21st-century Brazilian businesspeople People convicted of mail and wire fraud People convicted of money laundering People convicted of racketeering People from São José do Rio Preto Brazilian sports journalists Respiratory disease deaths in São Paulo (state) Deaths from respiratory failure {{Brazil-business-bio-stub