Court rules Wagner Pires, Itair Machado used Cruzeiro funds in defence | OneFootball

Cruzeiro obtained a favorable court ruling against former president Wagner Pires de Sá and former vice president of football Itair Machado in a lawsuit concerning the use of club funds to pay legal fees for the former executive’s personal defense in criminal cases brought by former director Bruno Vicintin.

The ruling was issued by Judge Claudia Aparecida Coimbra Alves of the 11th Civil Court of Belo Horizonte on May 15. In the decision, the judge upheld Cruzeiro’s claim and jointly ordered Wagner and Itair to reimburse R$ 49,360.01 to the club’s coffers, an amount referring to fees paid to the law firm “Arges e Arges Advogados Associados,” plus monetary adjustment and interest from the dates of the payments.

The news was first reported by the Central da Toca portal and was also confirmed by our reporting after learning of the ruling.

The court also maintained the freezing of the former executives’ assets and funds until the debt is paid in full.

According to the case file, Wagner Pires, then president of the association, authorized in November 2018 the hiring of the law firm to act in Itair Machado’s criminal defense in cases involving accusations of threats, insult, and defamation against Bruno Vicintin. Cruzeiro argued in the lawsuit that the cases concerned the executive’s personal matters, with no institutional connection to the club.

In the grounds for the ruling, the judge found that there was a “clear misuse of purpose” in the use of the civil association’s resources. The judge stressed that Cruzeiro “has no institutional interest in sponsoring the criminal defense of executives for insults or threats made in private disputes.”

The decision also classifies the conduct as reckless management, citing Article 25 of the Sports Fiscal Responsibility Law. According to the judge, Wagner Pires acted “with abuse of power” in authorizing the payment, while Itair Machado was identified as the direct beneficiary of the improper financial advantage.

Another point highlighted in the ruling was the approval of the 2019 administration’s accounts with reservations. The judge stated that the Fiscal Council’s approval does not eliminate any possible illegality in the acts carried out and expressly cited “reservations regarding the quality of the spending and indications of reckless management.”

During the proceedings, the defenses of Wagner Pires and Itair Machado argued that the hiring of the law firm took place within the presidency’s statutory powers and that the accusations against Itair were linked to the exercise of his role as vice president of football. Both also claimed political persecution by Cruzeiro’s management. It is worth noting that the decision is still subject to appeal.

Bruno Vicintin was one of the most critical voices against the administration that ran Cruzeiro between 2018 and 2019, a period marked by the unprecedented relegation to Série B and by various allegations of mismanagement that landed the club on the police pages. The former executive became an outspoken opponent of the political group that took control of the club at the end of 2017 and was at the center of several public clashes with members of the former administration.

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