Judge Andréa Calado da Cruz, of the 12th Criminal Court of the Capital of the Court of Justice of Pernambuco (TJ-PE), transferred the investigation against Esportes da Sorte to the Federal Court.
The decision was published this Monday (28) and is linked to Operation Integration. The measure occurred after the third request to archive the case by the Public Ministry of Pernambuco, which also criticized the judge’s conduct.
Evidence of federal crimes motivates the transfer
The change occurred after the judge declared the state courts incompetent to handle the case. She cited evidence of foreign exchange evasion as justification, which would require a federal court review.
According to Andréa Calado da Cruz, “with the regular progress of the investigation conducted by the Civil Police of Pernambuco, concrete and relevant evidence emerged of the practice of crimes that go beyond the limits of the jurisdiction of the state justice system, pointing to conduct with transnational repercussions, evidence of currency evasion, crimes against the national financial system, and tax evasion with potential harm to the Union.”
MP-PE had requested the case be archived
The Public Ministry of Pernambuco (MP-PE) requested that the investigation be shelved. In the opinion sent to the Court on Friday (25), Norma Mendonça Galvão de Carvalho, Deputy Attorney General for Legal Affairs of Pernambuco, defended the shelving due to lack of evidence of a crime.
This was the third request made to the judge. Furthermore, the deputy prosecutor criticized the judge’s conduct.
According to Norma Mendonça Galvão de Carvalho, “the judge’s conduct in deciding unfoundedly, for the third time, on the same ministerial statement, is, at the very least, reckless and irresponsible.”
Legalization of betting is the central point of divergence
The Public Prosecutor’s Office maintains that fixed-odds betting and online gaming are legal. Therefore, there would be no prior offense to justify a money laundering charge.
In its opinion, the MP stated that “the judge completely ignored the Public Prosecutor’s Office’s argument regarding the legalization of fixed-odds betting. (…) Furthermore, in the aforementioned decisions, she insisted on the existence of evidence of money laundering arising from ‘illegal betting’ without refuting the legal basis presented by the parquet [the Public Prosecutor’s Office]”.
The deputy prosecutor also questioned the basis of the accusation. According to the judge “it does not clarify what would be the antecedent crime of money laundering under the jurisdiction of the State Court committed through Bets Esportes da Sorte and Pix365 Soluções Tecnológicas (Vaidebet), in the specific case, after recognizing that online gambling (sports betting and casinos) no longer constitutes a criminal offense.”
TJ-PE’s Internal Affairs Department receives copies of the case
Faced with the impasse, the state Public Prosecutor’s Office sent copies of the case to the Court of Justice of Pernambuco’s Internal Affairs Office. The goal is to allow appropriate measures to be taken.
Esportes da Sorte reaffirms trust in institutions
The defense for Deolane Bezerra, who is also under investigation, has not yet commented. Attorney Ademar Rigueira Neto, representing Darwin Filho, CEO of Esportes da Sorte, said he will appeal the decision.
The sports betting company released an official statement declaring that the case was being transferred to the Federal Court. “reinforces the unfoundedness of all hypotheses considered in the investigation, their absolute nullity and the judge’s bias.”
The company then stated: “no longer able to sustain illegalities or fuel the unfounded accusations that it had considered with delegate Paulo Gondim from the beginning, the aforementioned judge, in an act of blatant desperation, renounced her responsibility to continue conducting the investigation even after having repeatedly and expressly reaffirmed her competence in the face of the same facts.”
Finally, the company reinforced its trust in the authorities. “[We] are certain that it will be recognized that there is no justification for continuing the investigations, that the entire inquiry is null and void and that Dr. Andréa Calado acted in disregard of the principle of impartiality, among many other constitutional principles.”
