Imelda Marcos faces arrest after being found guilty of 7 counts of corruption

(Image credit: Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images)

published 9 November 2018

Imelda Marcos, the 89-year-old former first lady of the Philippines, was found guilty on Friday of seven counts of violating anti-corruption laws, and ordered arrested.

The case stems from Marcos funneling roughly $200 million in the 1970s to private foundations she set up in Switzerland. She faces six to 11 years in prison for each count of graft, and can no longer hold public office. Marcos, a member of the House of Representatives, can keep her seat while appealing the decision. She was not in court, nor were her attorneys.

Her late husband, Ferdinand Marcos, was president of the Philippines for 21 years, before being ousted in 1986. During that time, the family amassed a fortune estimated to be worth as much as $10 billion, while most people in the country lived in poverty. After the family fled to Hawaii, the first lady's lavish collection of more than 1,000 pairs of shoes was put on display inside the president's residence, as a way of showing just how opulent her lifestyle was. Marcos returned to Manila after her husband died in 1989, and several of her children have become elected officials in the Philippines.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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