Maradona’s sisters and lawyer have assets seized over alleged brand fraud | OneFootball

Argentine justice seized on Thursday (18) the assets of two sisters of Diego Maradona, his lawyer, and three other people for alleged fraudulent management of the football star's brand, who died in 2020, according to a decision accessed by AFP.

A second instance court in Buenos Aires ordered the opening of a case against Maradona's lawyer, Matías Morla, and two of his assistants for alleged fraudulent management of the “Diego Maradona” brand and its derivatives, which, according to his children, should have been transferred to them after the death of the former player.

Two of the idol's sisters, Rita and Claudia Maradona, as well as a notary, were prosecuted as “necessary participants” in the case. All those involved were fined 2 billion Argentine pesos (about R$ 7 million at the official exchange rate).

The court considered that the commercial society formed by Morla to manage the brand was a “mere facade” and that Maradona continued to manage his assets at the time of his death.

Under these conditions, the decision emphasizes, the assets, tangible or not, “immediately become the property of his heirs”, in this case, the children.

The case began in 2021, when two of Maradona's daughters (Dalma and Giannina) accused Morla and the others involved of having appropriated the brand, which has million-dollar contracts in several countries. Later, the other three children of the Argentine idol joined as claimants.

Maradona died on November 25, 2020, from a pulmonary edema while recovering at home from recent neurosurgery.

The process around the brand is being conducted in parallel to the trial of eight health professionals to determine their responsibility in Maradona's death.

A first trial was annulled in May, after the removal of one of the magistrates, accused of making a clandestine documentary about the process, and there is still no scheduled date for its resumption.

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