Ex-Augusto Melo lawyer supports Corinthians in VaideBet case | OneFootball

Victor Waquil Nasralla, one of the lawyers representing Corinthians as a prosecution assistant in the case where Augusto Melo is a defendant for qualified theft, money laundering, and criminal association (VaideBet case), has previously worked in favor of the deposed president on August 9.

According to documents, which the Gazeta Esportiva news team had access to, Victor defended Augusto before his election at the end of 2023. The lawyer, who had a good relationship with the groups that supported Melo in the election, served on the Legal Committee of the campaign.

Nasralla's office was hired by Corinthians as soon as Augusto Melo took power. He came to Timão through the club's former legal director, Yun Ki Lee.

The information was first reported by Blog do Paulinho and confirmed by Gazeta Esportiva.

(Photo: José Manoel Idalgo/Agência Corinthians)

Inclusion in the VaideBet case

Victor was included as Corinthians' lawyer in the VaideBet investigation in May 2024. At the time, the person responsible for signing the power of attorney was the former vice and current club president, Osmar Stabile.

The then-president Augusto Melo was on a trip and, therefore, asked his vice to sign the document.

Nasralla, according to information obtained by the news team, was dismissed after Leonardo Pantaleão arrived at the club's legal department in June 2024. However, he returned when Vinicius Cascone took over the department in September of the same year.

Pantaleão again requested Victor's dismissal when he returned to the legal department as superintendent, after Osmar Stabile took office on an interim basis. The lawyer, however, continued working at the club at the request of vice president Armando Mendonça. At the time, the VaideBet case was in the indictment phase.

What will be done now?

Since July 2025, Victor Nasralla is one of the lawyers defined by Corinthians as a prosecution assistant in the case where the club was pointed out as a victim of alleged crimes committed by Augusto Melo, Sérgio Moura, Marcelo Mariano, and Alex Cassundé.

The president Osmar Stabile will meet with the new legal director Pedro Soares on Monday to define Victor Nasralla's future. The trend, however, is for the lawyer to be removed from the case, forcing the club to hire a new office to handle the action. There is also the possibility of him being dismissed from Timão.

Leonardo Pantaleão will also leave this and other cases to avoid a conflict of interest, as he left the legal superintendency to become vice of the club's Deliberative Council.

It is worth mentioning that, recently, former president Augusto Melo filed a request for Corinthians to be removed from the case as a prosecution assistant, arguing that the club was not a victim. The request, however, was denied by the court.

Understand the case

The sponsorship contract between Corinthians and VaideBet was signed on January 7, 2024, for R$ 370 million and a validity of three years.

On May 20 of the same year, a 'frontman' scheme linked to the intermediary who signed the agreement between the club and the betting house: Rede Social Media Design LTDA was disclosed. In March, the company received a payment of R$ 700,000 from Corinthians, with which its bank account became positive by R$ 697,270.73. A few days later, the account was replenished with the same amount.

A week later, Rede Social Media Design LTDA made a payment of R$ 580,000 to Neoway Integrated Services Solutions LTDA. A day after this transaction, Rede Social made another transfer to Neoway, this time in the amount of R$ 462,000.

Rede Social was responsible for mediating the agreement between VaideBet and Corinthians. Neoway is a company that would have a woman resident of Peruíbe, named Edna Oliveira dos Santos, as a partner. The headquarters of Neoway is located at Avenida Paulista, 171, 4th floor. However, according to the receptionist at the location, no one linked to the company has ever frequented the place.

Augusto Melo wearing a VaideBet cap (Photo: Rodrigo Gazzanel/Corinthians)

The big question is that Rede Social belongs to Alex Fernando André, Alex Cassundé, who participated in Augusto Melo's electoral campaign for the presidency of the alvinegro club, at the end of 2023. Cassundé is known to the former superintendent of marketing of Timão, Sérgio Moura.

The transactions of R$ 700,000 were made without the knowledge of the then financial director of Corinthians, Rozallah Santoro, who at that time was traveling and was not at Parque São Jorge. In the absence of Santoro, the administrative director at the time, Marcelo Mariano, authorized the payments claiming that Rede Social had already issued invoices and had paid the taxes.

Edna Oliveira dos Santos, majority partner of Neoway, lives in a simple house in Peruíbe and is unaware of the company, of which she would be the owner. In addition, Edna does not know Cassundé.

On May 27, VaideBet sent an extrajudicial notification to Corinthians, signaling the possibility of terminating the link, initially scheduled until the end of Augusto Melo's term. In the document, the company expressed its dissatisfaction to the Parque São Jorge team with the news published in the press about the partnership.

The betting house gave a ten-day deadline for the club to provide explanations and present solutions. Without getting the expected return, VaideBet exercised the anti-corruption clause, contained in the sponsorship contract, and terminated the agreement.

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