CHICAGO — The chief of the Brazilian Olympic committee has been arrested amid allegations that he helped funnel a $2 million bribe in the site selection process that saw Chicago eliminated in the contest to win the 2016 games.
Carlos Nuzman allegedly "acted as an intermediary" in the payment to Papa Massata Diack, described by the BBC as "the son of an influential Senegalese member if the International Olympic Committee." Prosecutors in Brazil believe the payment was done to secure the vote of Diack's father, Lamine Diack, in the 2009 vote.
Nuzman denies the allegations. French prosecutors have said they are also investigating a cash-for-votes scheme in choosing winning cities.
On Friday, Nuzman was suspended from the IOC.
RELATED: What Would Chicago Look Like If It Had Been Awarded The Olympics
An estimated $76 million was raised from donors to make the Olympic bid for Chicago. However, the city did spend millions to buy the site of the former Michael Reese Hospital with an aim to make it an Olympic village to house athletes.
Earlier this year, city officials said the current loan principal and interest on the still-vacant site is $120 million and have characterized it as an "inherited deal" that has been "a bad one for taxpayers."
Chicago's $4.8 billion Olympic bid was rejected in the first round. Rio's cost of staging the Olympics was an estimated $13.1 billion and left the country with a number of "white elephant" venues, critics say.
Up to 8 million visitors who were expected to descend on Chicago if the city had won the 2016 Olympic Games.
If the International Olympic Committee had chosen Chicago instead of Rio, a $400 million Olympic stadium would have been built in Washington Park. A man-made river of white water rapids would have flowed by Northerly Island, an archery range would have been in Grant Park, and a BMX track would have been built in Douglas Park among other projects.
