FILE - In this Dec. 16, 2015 file photo, Aldemir Bendine, CEO of Petrobras, speaks with foreign journalists in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the midst of a continuing federal investigation into a kickback scheme at Brazil's state-run oil company. The now former chief executive officer of Brazil's state oil company Petrobras has been sentenced on Wednesday, March 7, 2018, to 11 years in prison as part of sprawling corruption investigation that has ensnared many of the country's top business and political leaders. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
Republished March 07, 2018 - 2:56 PM
Original Publication Date March 07, 2018 - 12:56 PM
SAO PAULO - A former chief executive officer of state oil company Petrobras was sentenced to 11 years in prison Wednesday as part of sprawling corruption investigation that has ensnared many of Brazil's top business and political leaders.
Federal Judge Sergio Moro found Aldemir Bendine guilty of corruption and money laundering in connection with about $1 million in bribes paid by construction giant Odebrecht.
Moro said Bendine used his influence to illegally help the builder between 2014 and 2017. He was arrested in July and is the only ex-Petrobras CEO implicated in the mammoth "Car Wash" corruption investigation.
Bendine was named head of Brazil's second largest bank, Banco do Brasil, in 2009 by then President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Six years later, President Dilma Rousseff made him CEO of Petrobras.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018