Audit committee to investigate Casares’ corporate card use | OneFootball

The dismissals of some allies of Julio Casares after the former president announced his resignation from the presidency last Wednesday (21) was not the only move by the new Tricolor leader, Harry Massis Júnior, and the club's new chain of command.

On the afternoon of Thursday (22), São Paulo’s Fiscal Council requested access to the corporate card invoices used by Casares during the five years he served as club president.

The information was initially reported by the portal ‘Globo Esporte‘ and confirmed to AVANTE MEU TRICOLOR.

According to the report, the club’s internal body voted by majority to investigate whether Casares used the card in accordance with the rules set out in the bylaws.

The group, made up of five members, oversees “the actions of the Board and verifies compliance with their legal and statutory duties,” as stated on the club’s official website.

DARK FUTURE FOR THE FORMER PRESIDENT

Júlio Casares’s resignation from the presidency of São Paulo comes amid a series of investigations conducted by the Civil Police since the end of last year. The now former president is the subject of inquiries related to cash withdrawals from the club’s accounts and financial transactions considered atypical by oversight bodies. The investigation is under the responsibility of delegate Tiago Fernando Correia, from the 3rd Division for Investigations into Crimes against Administration and Combating Money Laundering (Dicca).

The delegate states there are “consistent indications that an alleged criminal association is operating a sophisticated scheme for embezzlement and misappropriation of funds.” The Civil Police is conducting the main investigation, while the Public Prosecutor’s Office is working on two fronts: one focused on the alleged embezzlement scheme and another dedicated to investigating reckless management, with an emphasis on the origin of São Paulo’s billion-real debt.

Investigators are analyzing 35 cash withdrawals made between January 2021 and November 2025, totaling eleven million reais. The banks responsible for the accounts classified the operations as “atypical and incompatible with market practices for an entity of this size,” highlighting the difficulty in ensuring the destination of the funds. The last 33 withdrawals were made with the support of an armored car company, a method that, according to the police, makes it harder to trace the money.

At the same time, investigators identified deposits into accounts linked to the executive’s family. Between January 2023 and May 2025, there were cash deposits totaling R$ 1.5 million into a joint account of Júlio and Mara Casares, the executive’s ex-wife. She held the position of women’s director, culture, and events at the club and took a leave of absence after accusations related to an illegal box office ticket sales scheme. Coaf also cites cash deposits into the account of Deborah de Melo Casares, their daughter. In one instance, on November 22, 2024, Mara deposited R$ 49,500 in cash, an amount below the automatic notification threshold.

The reports also indicate cash infusions made by Mara into the account of a company in which Deborah is a partner. The central point of the investigation is to determine whether there is a link between the withdrawals from São Paulo’s accounts and the deposits into the executives’ accounts. Casares claims the funds are backed and that the accusations are based on “weak versions.”

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.