Casares’ ex-wife steps back from club board after VIP box scandal | OneFootball

The Camarote Scandal continues to make waves at São Paulo, even almost a week after it was exposed.

On Friday (19th), Mara Casares, ex-wife of president Julio Casares and former cultural and events director of the club, requested a leave of absence from her position on the Deliberative Council.

Mara was caught together with Douglas Schwartzmann, who was then responsible for the club’s youth divisions and is also suspended, in a controversy involving the transfer of a space in the Tricolor stadium for a concert by Colombian singer Shakira in March. Both were caught in phone recordings made by the whistleblower, who felt harmed after claiming she had been “robbed” by a fourth party involved.

Mara’s leave, however, came at an opportune moment for the Casares administration. It happened one day after the approval of São Paulo’s budget for 2026, in which she voted in favor of the accounts proposed by her ex-husband.

Although now on leave, Mara will continue to be investigated in the case on two fronts.

First, she will be the target of a police inquiry initiated at the request of the São Paulo State Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Prosecutor José Reinaldo Guimarães Carneiro, from the Tourism and Sports Commission of the São Paulo Public Prosecutor’s Office, saw clear evidence of crimes that do, in fact, involve São Paulo and not just the consumer relationship among the other parties involved.

“The first crime is private corruption in sports, which is a crime provided for in the new General Sports Law, in effect since 2023. This crime, in fact, presupposes the manipulation of private interests to the detriment of the club’s assets, of the associations,” said Carneiro.

“And a second crime, which is also very serious, is coercion during the course of the process. Because calling someone and intimidating them to withdraw a lawsuit under threat that things will escalate, as the recordings suggest, is an indication of a crime,” the prosecutor added.

The Public Prosecutor’s suggestion is that the three people involved in the audio (Douglas Schwartzmann, Mara Casares, and the whistleblower) and all those mentioned, including Marcio Carlomagno, São Paulo’s general superintendent, be heard.

“All the money collected by an association, whether in a sports arena due to football or any other sporting activity, must revert to the club. And not to benefit the private interests of those who should be managing the club. The police will take the next steps,” he said.

The case is also moving forward internally at São Paulo. After the audio recordings were revealed, the Tricolor opened two investigations, one internal and one external, to determine what happened.

The Deliberative Council referred another investigation to the club’s Ethics Committee, while receiving requests for sanctions against Schwartzmann and Mara. On the same day the case was made public, both directors requested leave from their positions.

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