Singer Gusttavo Lima was indicted for money laundering and criminal association, following an investigation by the Civil Police of Pernambuco
The Pernambuco Court issued an arrest warrant for the artist on September 23rd, but the order was revoked the following day.
Nivaldo Batista Lima, the musician’s given name, is suspected of being involved with a criminal organization that would have moved approximately R$3 billion arising from illicit activities.
The Operation Integration investigation is the same one that investigates the participation of lawyer and influencer Deolane Bezerra in the crimes.
The singer was in Miami, in the United States, when the arrest warrant was issued. After the revocation, he came to Brazil for a presentation in Pará, but returned to the North American country this Sunday (29).
See what we know so far about the investigation that began in December 2022.
Value hiding
Gusttavo Lima is accused of hiding R$9.7 million received in two illegal gaming deposits from HSF Entretenimento Promoção de Eventos.
Balada Eventos e Produções Ltda, the singer’s company, received transfers of R$4,819,200.00 on April 3, 2023, and R$4,947,400.00 on May 25, 2023.
Furthermore, the artist would also have concealed the sale and ownership of the Cessna Aircraft aircraft, model 560XLS, when negotiating the plane with the company JMJ Participações Ltda.
Between the months of February and July 2024, Balada Eventos received seven transactions in the negotiation of the aircraft, totaling R$22,232,235.53.
On September 23rd, the CNN consulted the aircraft’s registration on the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) portal, which shows the singer’s company as the owner of the plane.
The company is also accused of hiding amounts from illegal games run by Sports Entretenimento Promoção de Eventos and Pix 365 Soluções Tecnologias, according to the investigation.
The court decision shows that Balada Eventos kept around R$195,000 in the company’s coffers.
GSA Empreendimentos and Vai de Bet
A company owned by Gusttavo Lima received R$5.9 million from the sports betting company Vai de Bet.
A financial intelligence report (RIF) from the Financial Activities Control Council (Coaf) points out that GSA Empreendimentos e Participações, which has the artist as its only partner, received BRL 5,950,000.00 from the company Pix 365 Technological Solutions.
The investigation points out that Pix 365 used the company Zelu Brasil Facilitadora de Payments to mediate part of the transactions.
Of this total, the GSA also transferred R$1,350,000.00 to Gusttavo Lima’s personal account. The transfers were made during 2023.
In the decision, judge Andrea Calado da Cruz explains that Pix 365 is the Vai de Bet sports betting company and Zelu Brasil is the payment intermediary for Vai de Bet and Esportes da Sorte.
“It is inferred that vai de bet (PIX365) made a payment of R$5,750,000.00 to GSA, through payment facilitator Zelu Brasil, in addition to sending R$200,000.00 directly to GSA”.
The investigation also revealed that Gusttavo Lima owns 25% of Vai de Bet, to be acquired on July 1, 2024. In the decision, the judge noted that this company “further accentuates the questionable nature of their financial interactions.”
Protection for fugitives
One of the reasons that supported the singer’s request for preventive detention was that, according to judge Andréa Calado da Cruz, he had “given refuge to fugitives”.
In the decision, the judge states that the musician “demonstrates an alarming lack of consideration for Justice. His intense financial relationship with these individuals, which includes suspicious movements, raises serious questions about his own participation in criminal activities.”
The investigators pointed out that Gusttavo Lima had connived at the situation of the investigated José André da Rocha Neto and Aislla Sabrina Henriques Truta Rocha before the courts. The couple owns Vai de Bet.
The judge details the suspect’s movement with the couple, pointing out that the singer transported the duo to Europe (Greece and the Canary Islands) to avoid justice.
The Pernambuco Civil Police investigation maintains that there is “sufficient evidence of his participation in the crime of money laundering”.
What the defense says
The last public note from Gusttavo Lima’s defense was published after the request for arrest against the singer was revoked, on September 24th. Read below.
The defense of singer Gusttavo Lima receives with great tranquility and a sense of justice the decision handed down this afternoon by TJPE Judge Dr. Eduardo Guilliod Maranhão, who granted habeas corpus.
The decision of the original judge established a series of presumptions contrary to everything that has already been presented in the case file, even contradicting the statement of the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the case.
Gusttavo Lima’s relationship with the investigated companies was strictly about the use of image and resulted from the sale of an aircraft. Everything is done legally, through bank transactions, declarations to the competent bodies and registration with ANAC. These contracts had several compliance clauses and were signed long before it was possible to know about the existence of any ongoing investigation.
Gusttavo Lima has and has always had a clean life and a career dedicated to music and his fans. In due course, legal measures will be adopted to obtain a minimum of compensation for any damage caused to its image.
Legal team – Gusttavo Lima
This content was originally published in Gusttavo Lima indicted: what is known about the investigation on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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