Former IAAF head Lamine Diack sentenced to 2 years in prison

PARIS (AP) — Former track federation president Lamine Diack was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for his role in a scheme that allowed Russian athletes who paid hush money to keep competing when they should have been suspended for doping.

The guilty verdict in a Paris court represented a spectacular fall from grace for the 87-year-old Diack, who was the powerful head of the IAAF from 1999-2015. The court also sentenced Diack to another two years of suspended jail time and fined him 500,000 euros ($590,000).

Diack was found guilty of multiple corruption charges and of breach of trust but acquitted of a money laundering charge.

At Diack’s trial in June, prosecutors requested a four-year jail term and a fine of 500,000 euros ($590,000).

Diack’s son, Papa Massata Diack, was also on trial. The former IAAF marketing consultant lives in Senegal and was tried in his absence, also on corruption, money laundering and breach of trust charges.

Ahead of the verdict, Papa Massata Diack this week called the charges “the biggest lie in the history of world sport.” He said he earned $10 million from his IAAF consultancy work but all legally. He said he skipped the trial because “to submit to French justice is to put myself at the disposal of my enemies.” Senegal refused to extradite him.