Marcelo Bahia Odebrecht (; born 18 October 1968) is a Brazilian businessman and the former CEO of
Odebrecht
Odebrecht S.A. (), officially known as Novonor, is a Brazilian conglomerate, headquartered in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, consisting of diversified businesses in the fields of engineering, construction, chemicals and petrochemicals. The company w ...
, a diversified Brazilian
conglomerate. In March 2016, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for paying more than $30 million in bribes. The jail sentence was reduced to ten years in prison in December 2016 for paying a fine, admitting guilt and providing evidence to authorities.
Early life
He was born in October 1968,
the son of
Emílio Odebrecht and Regina Bahia,
and the grandson of
Norberto Odebrecht, the company's founder.
[ They trace their descent from a family of German immigrants to Brazil in the 1850s.][ ]
Career
After received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Universidade Federal da Bahia
The Federal University of Bahia ( pt, Universidade Federal da Bahia, UFBA) is a public university located mainly in the city of Salvador. It is the largest university in the state of Bahia and one of Brazil's most prestigious educational institu ...
(UFBA), Marcelo joined Odebrecht in 1992, and was appointed CEO in 2008.
Operation Car Wash
On 19 June 2015, he was arrested as part of a major investigation, Operation Car Wash
Operation Car Wash ( pt, Operação Lava Jato) was a criminal investigation by the Federal Police of Brazil's Curitiba branch. It began in March 2014 and was initially headed by investigative judge in France, but unlike judges in the common law ...
( pt, Operação Lava Jato), into corruption at the state-owned oil company Petrobras.[ ] On 8 March 2016, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison, after being convicted of paying more than $30 million in bribes.
On 5 November 2017, Marcelo Odebrecht, his father and his brother were named in the Paradise Papers
The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, from the newspaper'' Süddeutsch ...
, a set of confidential electronic document
An electronic document is any electronic media content (other than computer programs or system files) that is intended to be used in either an electronic form or as printed output. Originally, any computer data were considered as something inter ...
s relating to offshore investment
Offshore investment is the keeping of money in a jurisdiction other than one's country of residence. Offshore jurisdictions are used to pay less tax in many countries by large and small-scale investors. Poorly regulated offshore domiciles have ser ...
, and was revealed that his company used at least one offshore company
The term "offshore company" or “offshore corporation” is used in at least two distinct and different ways. An offshore company may be a reference to:
* a company, group or sometimes a division thereof, which engages in offshoring business pr ...
as a vehicle for the payment of bribes in the Operation Car Wash.
In December 2017 he was released from jail on house arrest. This was part of a leniency deal in which he is paying a $2 billion fine, admitting guilt and providing evidence to authorities.[
In April 2022, the minister Edson Fachin reduced his sentence from 10 years to 7½ years, with that, Marcelo will have served his sentence and should be free of legal restrictions by the end of 2022.]
Personal life
He and his wife, Isabela, have three daughters: Rafa, Gabi and Mari.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odebrecht, Marcelo
Living people
1968 births
Brazilian businesspeople
Brazilian criminals
Brazilian people of French descent
Brazilian people of German descent
Brazilian prisoners and detainees
Corruption in Brazil
Odebrecht family
Federal University of Bahia alumni
People convicted of bribery
People convicted of money laundering
Vaza Jato