Flamengo striker Bruno Henrique was sentenced on Thursday (4) by the Superior Court of Sports Court (STJD) to a penalty of 12 suspension matches and a fine of $ 60,000, for alleged handling in the Brazilian Championship to favor gamblers.
The player was tried for suspected of sharing early information about receiving a yellow card in Flamengo’s match against Santos, for the 2023 Brazilian Championship, to benefit a sports betting scheme involving friends and family.
The 29-year-old athlete was framed by the STJD Attorney’s Office in two articles by CBJD (Brazilian Code of Sports Justice): 243 and 243-A.
The former talks about “acting deliberately, harmfully to the team he defends”. The second deals with “acting, contrary to sports ethics, in order to influence the outcome, proof or equivalent”.
In the vote of STJD auditors, Bruno Henrique was considered innocent by article 243, as it was not proven that the player deliberately sought to harm the team with the receipt of the card.
However, he was considered guilty by most auditors by article 243-A. “There was actually attitude that violates sports ethics,” said the case rapporteur at STJD, Alcino Guedes.
“I would like to reaffirm my innocence and that I have never committed the infractions that I am being accused,” said the player, who accompanied the trial of more than seven hours per video conferencing.
The striker can still appeal to the STJD full against the decision, rendered by the first disciplinary committee of the Court.
“In the full, the penalty can be maintained, reduced, increased or even annulled. This double degree of jurisdiction is foreseen precisely to ensure more balance and justice in decisions,” said Felipe Crisafulli, partner of Ambiel Bonilha Advogados and specialist in sports law.
In case of a new unfavorable decision, Bruno Henrique may still appeal to CAS (Arbitral Tribunal of Sport), based in Switzerland.
In November 2024, the player was the target of operation of PF and Gaeco (special action group in combating organized crime).
At the time, federal police and Gaeco agents went to the Urubu nest, the Flamengo Training Center in Vargem Grande, West Zone of Rio, to fulfill search and seizure warrants.
They also went to the home of the player, who handed electronic devices to the agents.
The PF located messages on the mobile phone by Wander Nunes Pinto Junior, brother of Bruno Henrique, indicating that the athlete anticipated that he would receive a yellow card during the match against Santos.
In the move, the athlete Soteldo, then at Santos, is near the corner flag and risks a dribble about Bruno Henrique. The red-black player tries to stop him, and referee Rafael Rodrigo Klein is missing.
After yellow, Bruno Henrique received direct red card by complaint. Santos won 2-1.
For the police, the excerpt in which Bruno Henrique, asked by Wander would stand to be until the date of the match without receiving a card, would not complain that he would not complain and only receive a card if he “got strong in someone”.
Given this, Wander responds informing that he intended to “save money,” allegedly to make the fraudulent bet and still states that it would be a “successful investment”.
In the dialogues attached by the PF in the process of August 2023, Wander asks if the player has two cards in the championship, to which he responds “yes”. Wander follows: “When people have 3 call us huh kkkk.” Bruno replies: “Against Santos”.
For the PF, WhatsApp’s conversations held between the athlete and the brother “point out that he would have expressly provided privileged information to his brother about receiving a card in the match under investigation.”
Possible manipulation in the game against Santos was determined from an IBIA (International Betting Integrity Association) and Sportradar (IBIA report, which do risk market risk analysis. The suspicion was taken to CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) and the Ministry of Finance.
Similar communications of three competing betting operators reinforced suspicions of card market manipulation, or “spot-fixing”, according to the PF survey.
In the common court, the striker and his brother became defendants in July, after the Federal District Court accepted a complaint filed by the prosecutor for sports fraud. If convicted, the striker may take a sentence of up to six years in prison. There is no date for the trial yet.
Throughout the investigations, Bruno Henrique continued to work normally for Flamengo, where he has been since January 2019.
For the club, he won two editions of the Copa Libertadores (2019 and 2022) and the Brazilian Championship (2019 and 2020), as well as five titles of the Carioca Championship.
