The Goiás judge accepted the complaint filed by the Public Ministry against the 16 people investigated in the operation Maximum sentence II.
The 113-page document was made public by the MP. In all, seven athletes are accused, in addition to nine players who command the criminal organization. The defendants are judged after the process of instruction carried out by the judge.
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Among the athletes involved is Eduardo Bauermann, of saintswho was sent off by the club and even received death threats for not respecting the agreement (in one match he did not receive a yellow card and in the other he was sent off after the match , which does not count for bookmakers).
Eduardo Bauermann (Santos)
Gabriel Tota (Ypiranga-RS)
Victor Ramos (Chapecoense)
Igor Carius (Sports)
Paulo Miranda (Nautical)
Fernando Neto (Sao Bernardo)
Matheus Gomes (Sergipe)
Bruno Lopez de Moura
Icaro Fernando Calixto dos Santos
Luis Felipe Rodrigues de Castro
Victor Yamasaki Fernandes
Zildo Peixoto Neto
Thiago Chambo Andrade
Romario Hugo dos Santos
Guillaume de Oliveira Souza
Pedro Gama dos Santos Jr.
Investigation into Operation Maximum Penalty highlights that criminal groups convinced players, with offers of up to R$100,000, to decommit specific bids in matches and profited from bettors on sites Branch website.
A co-opted player, for example, would have the « function » of scoring a penalty, receiving a card or contributing to building the result of the match – generally a defeat for his team.
The first complaints heard by the operation came at the end of 2022, when midfielder Romário, while a player from Vila Nova (GO), accepted R$150,000 to impose a penalty against Sport, in a valid match for the series B do Brasileiro.
At the time, the athlete immediately pocketed R$10,000 and only earned the rest if the plan worked. Romário, however, wasn’t even included in the match, which spoiled the idea.
The story reached Hugo Jorge Bravo, president of the Goiás team and also a military policeman, who searched for evidence and handed it over to the State Public Ministry. From then on, the « Maximum Sentence » operation was created to investigate the evidence and suspicions in this regard.
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In the first complaint, there were suspicions of manipulation in 3 Serie B matches, but the latest events have led investigators to believe that the problem was national and had occurred in the state championships and also in the first division Brazilian.
In addition to Romário, September other players have been denounced by the Public Ministry for having participated in the matchmaking system: Joseph (Tombense), Mateusinho (former Sampaio Corrêa, today in Cuiabá), Gabriel Domingos (Vila Nova), Allan Godói (Sampaio Corrêa), André Queixo (former Sampaio Corrêa, principal at Ituano), Ygor Catatau (former Sampaio Corrêa, principal at Sepahan, Iran) and Paulo Sérgio (former Sampaio Corrêa, principal at Operário-PR).