José Lázaro Margulies (born 12 August 1939), is a Brazilian businessman who was convicted of organized crime, money laundering and fraud charges relating to the

2015 FIFA corruption case In 2015, United States federal prosecutors disclosed cases of corruption by officials and associates connected with the Fédération internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the governing body of association football, futsal and beach s ...

Early life

José Margulies was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Argentina and immigrated to Brazil at a young age, where he worked for more than twenty years managing sales and marketing rights related to sports competitions.

FIFA's fraud case

In May 2015, Margulies was one of the

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

executives accused by the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

of various corruption offenses during the

, which led to the arrest of executives by Swiss police at the Hotel Baur au Lac in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. On June 2, 2015,

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

issued an arrest warrant against Margulies and other FIFA businessmen and executives involved in the FIFA's corruption case who had fled justice. In November 2015, Margulies was convicted of

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

and fraud. He agreed to forfeit more than $9.2 million. In April 2016, a

U.S. Federal Court The federal judiciary of the United States is one of the three branches of the federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government. The U.S. federal judiciary consists primaril ...

released Margulies's November 2015 testimony in which he pleaded guilty to corruption and agreed with the prosecution about fining and recovering millions of dollars. José Margulies acknowledged his role as an intermediary in transfers of bribe money to sports executives. In January 2020, Margulies was sentenced by the Eastern District Court of New York to a two-year probationary period. Judge

Pamela K. Chen Pamela Ki Mai Chen (born March 30, 1961) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Biography Chen was born in 1961 in Chicago. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983 f ...

stated that Margulies had committed a serious crime and that this had contributed to questioning the credibility of professional football, but considered it a mitigating circumstance to repent of his deed and to cooperate with the court.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Margulies, Jose Living people People from Buenos Aires 1939 births Brazilian criminals Fraudsters