The São Paulo court ordered the seizure of the assets of a property belonging to the former deputy (PL-SP) due to a debt estimated at around R$ 17,700.
The determination was made by judge Ricardo Kuei Hsu, from the Special Civil Court of Itaquera, in an action for improper use of a photograph of Guilherme Boulos (PSOL).
In 2021, Zambelli published criticism of Boulos on his social networks and attached an image taken by photographer Peter Leone. The then deputy, however, did not pay the royalties nor did she have authorization from the photographer to use the image.
In the lawsuit, lawyer Chrystian Sobania Wowk, who represents the photographer, stated that Zambelli “usurped other people’s work.”
In the defense presented to the Court, the former deputy said that Leone had given the photograph to an image bank and that, therefore, she would not have the right to complain about the lack of payment. “Possible violation of copyright violates the fundamental guarantees of this third party [a empresa proprietária do banco de imagens]and no longer from the creator”, he stated.
She also declared that the image had been widely disseminated on the internet, “without any restriction, control or mention of credits, which rules out copyright infringement”. The deputy also said that the image had a “clear public character”.
The judges at the São Paulo Court of Justice rejected the argument.
“The deputy claimed, but did not prove that the photographer transferred the copyright of the work”, said judge Fernanda Deporte, rapporteur of the case, in the decision. The case became final in February last year, meaning it is no longer subject to appeal on the merits.
As he has not yet paid the sentence, judge Hsu ordered the seizure of the assets, to be carried out on a Zambelli property in Mairiporã, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo. The seized assets will be subject to evaluation and may be auctioned.
Zambelli is currently imprisoned in Italy and is due in Brazil.
The former deputy was in August last year before the (Federal Supreme Court) for the crimes of illegal possession of a firearm and illegal restraint. The penalty was 5 years and 3 months in prison under an initial semi-open regime, in addition to the payment of a fine corresponding to 400 minimum wages in force at the time of the events.
She also has a ten-year prison sentence from the National Justice Council systems. It was after this conviction that she fled to Italy, where she ended up arrested in July 2025.
The column was unable to locate those responsible for defending Zambelli in the action.
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