Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former president of Brazil, was sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison on Wednesday after he was convicted of corruption and money laundering.

Mr. da Silva, who rose from the working class to serve as president from 2003 to 2010, is the highest-profile political figure convicted so far in a wide-ranging investigation involving billions of dollars in contracts and allegations of kickbacks related to the giant state-controlled oil company Petrobras.

Here is a brief look at Mr. da Silva’s career:

From Poverty to the Presidency

■ Born in 1945, he helped his family with jobs as a shoeshine boy, a street vendor and a factory worker.

■ In 1975, he was elected president of the Metalworkers’ Union.

■ In 1980, he was a founder of the Workers’ Party, an alliance of leftist groups, trade unionists, intellectuals and church activists.