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Brazil Court Reportedly Blocks Olympic Funds On Fraud Suspicion

A federal court in Brazil "blocked funding for the construction of an Olympic venue on suspicion of corruption, a source involved in preparations said on Tuesday, throwing fresh scrutiny on the Rio de Janeiro Games four months before they start," according to Gaier & Fonseca of REUTERS. State lender Caixa Economica Federal confirmed that "it suspended payments to a consortium building the Olympic Deodoro complex, where 11 sports including rugby sevens and BMX Biking will be held, after receiving a court order." But the lender said that "it could not give a reason for the suspension as the case was under seal." The news was first reported by the G1 website on Tuesday, which said the suspended funds totaled R$128.5M ($35M). According to the report, prosecutors in Rio said that "they found evidence of fraud in earthmoving services at the venue." The federal prosecutors' office in Rio and federal court officials "declined to confirm the blocking of the funds, saying the case was under seal." The mayor's office "would not comment saying they too had not yet been notified." The office of Brazil's comptroller general, known as the CGU, confirmed in an email that "it audited the projects at Deodoro and shared its findings with federal prosecutors." Deodoro "is Rio's second-largest Olympic cluster" with nine venues being built at a cost of R$800M ($221M). Seven "have already been completed, with the shooting and equestrian venues still under construction" (REUTERS, 3/29).

SAFETY DRILL
: XINHUA reported the Brazilian navy "began a series of joint exercises" with its U.S. counterpart in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday as part of preparations for the Olympic Games in August. In the Guanabara Bay, the two sides "carried out a simulated rescue of a ship seized by mock terrorists, near where the Olympic Games' sailing event will take place." Brazilian captain Luis Guilherme Rabello said that "given an increase in terrorist attacks around the world in recent months, security officials at the Olympic Games have decided to include the profiling of these attacks in their training and planning" (XINHUA, 3/29).

OLYMPICS AD SALES: REUTERS reported NBC, a unit of Comcast, said that it had sold $1B in national ad sales for the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. NBC said that the Games "were on pace to have the biggest Olympics advertising sales ever." The network said that the $1B figure "includes national broadcast, cable and digital ad sales." NBC signed on two years ago to pay $7.65B for the right to air six Olympic Games from '22-32 "before any other U.S. media company could bid" (REUTERS, 3/29).

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