By the first week of May, the São Paulo Civil Police intend to conclude the investigation into the contract between Corinthians and VaideBet.
According to information from Gazeta Esportiva, the club’s president, Augusto Melo, and former directors Sérgio Moura, Marcelo Mariano and Yun Ki Lee are expected to be indicted. The entire process is still ongoing and has already lasted approximately one year of investigation and collection of evidence and statements.
Last week, the court granted permission for the suspects and their respective lawyers to have access to the entire contents of the case, including documents related to confidential files. In this way, Augusto Melo, Sérgio Moura and Marcelo Mariano became aware of the material evidence that the police had already attached about them.
According to the information released by the portal, among the hundreds of pages, there is a dispatch from delegate Tiago Fernando Correia, from the Citizen Protection Police Department (DPPC, responsible for money laundering cases).
In it, the delegate claims to have sufficient elements to indict Augusto Melo, Sérgio Moura and Marcelo Mariano for criminal association, the old crime of forming a gang, and money laundering with revenues diverted from Corinthians itself for this criminal purpose.
The investigation also maintains, according to the official ruling in the case, that Rede Social Media Design LTDA, a company mentioned in the contract as an intermediary for the business and under the responsibility of Alex Fernando André, known as Alex Cassundé, never played any role as an intermediary and would therefore be part of the process of alleged final misappropriation of the club’s resources and that it would have as leaders the three Corinthians directors.
The Corinthians and VaideBet case
Investigations into the case began last year, after press reports of alleged irregularities in the companies that were allegedly participating in the transaction between the club and VaideBet.
In March 2024, Corinthians made two deposits of R$700,000 to two companies. One of them, Rede Social Media Design Ltda, chosen to mediate VaideBet’s sponsorship with Corinthians, belongs to businessman Alex Cassundé.
However, Edna Oliveira dos Santos, who is presented in the documentation as a partner in the company, has no relationship with the businessman. Furthermore, in an interview with the press, she said that she lives on charity in a community in Peruíbe with her three young children and depends on Bolsa Família to feed them.
In June last year, VaideBet broke its contract with Corinthians by triggering the anti-corruption clause. Since then, the partnership has been the target of investigations.
