Four first division Brazilian clubs Provisionally suspended this Wednesday a total of five soccer players investigated for allegedly having received bribes from a mafia that manipulated the results to favor gamblers.
Paranaense Athletic, finalist of the Copa Libertadores 2022, suspended two midfielders, the Ecuadorian Bryan Garcia and the brazilian Pedro, who will be away from the team “until the facts disclosed are rigorously investigated.”
Fluminense, Cruzeiro and America they spoke on similar terms and suspended one player each. It’s about the defender Victor Mendes (Fluminense), the midfielder Richard (Cruzeiro) and the right back Nino Paraiba (America).
Despite the fact that none of them is on the list of the seven footballers charged on Tuesday for their alleged participation in the fixing, they do appear on the list of those investigated or among those cited in intercepted conversations with members of the criminal organization.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, there is evidence to show that Victor Mendes accepted a bribe in exchange for forcing a yellow card against him in a league game last year, when he was acting for youth.
The defender reportedly received 35,000 reais (about $7,000) for the booking he received with five minutes remaining in the league match in which Juventude drew 1-1 with Strength.
Mendes He has been playing for Fluminense since last December on loan from Atlético Mineiro. pedrinho appears on a list of alleged bribed players that was seized from one of the investigated gamblers, while Richard, from Cruzeiro, was quoted in a conversation between two members of the organization.
Tuesday a Goiás state court accepted the prosecution’s complaint against 16 investigated for participating in the manipulation of the results. Among them are seven footballers: Eduardo Bauermann (Santos), Igor Cariús (Sport), Víctor Ramos (Chapecoense), Paulo Miranda (Náutico), Fernando Neto (Sao Bernardo), Matheus Gomes (Sergipe) and Gabriel Tota (Ypiranga).
The researchers identified manipulations in at least “13 football matches”, of which eight were from the first division of the Brazilian Championship of 2022 and one of the second.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office,The footballers promised to “commit penalties” and “fouls” to receive yellow and red cards with the aim of favoring gamblers. The organization that recruited the soccer players offered them bribes of up to $20,000 for certain actions or omissions.
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