Ronaldinho and his brother Roberto remained in detention for 171 days in the South American country. The former soccer player was allegedly involved in money laundering with Bitcoin.
After 6 months in detention between a local prison and a hotel, serving under house arrest, former Brazilian soccer player Ronaldinho Gaúcho was released in Paraguay.
According to local media, Judge Gustavo Amarilla ruled the conditional suspension of the proceedings against the former player and his brother Roberto de Assis Moreira. Even though Ronaldinho was fully released, Assis will have to appear every 4 months in court in his country, Brazil, as part of serving his 2-year sentence.
As part of the judge’s sentence, the two men had to donate a total of USD 200,000 to various causes on Paraguayan soil. In total, Ronaldinho had to allocate USD 60,000 to a hospital and another USD 30,000 to “We all are Bianca”, a campaign declared of national interest that seeks to raise funds for a girl with spinal muscular atrophy.
Roberto must allocate USD 110,000 to the Ministry of Justice to provide guards and inmates in Paraguayan detention facilities with sanitary supplies to fight COVID-19.
When the two brothers were arrested, they were carrying false documentation. Furthermore, Ronaldinho was under investigation for his alleged participation in a Bitcoin money-laundering scheme.
At the time, an investor accused the former FC Barcelona star of being related to the company 18K, which offered investments with Bitcoin and daily returns of up to 2%. Ronaldinho alleges that he only lent his image and was also scammed by this organization, charged with being a pyramid scheme whose website stopped working without responding to its customers.
Shortly after that lawsuit, Ronaldinho and his brother were caught carrying false passports when entering Paraguay. The world champion stated that he was unaware that he was using false papers. However, the judge’s decision on August 24th comes after both parties accepted their guilt, and the payment of the previously stated fine.
In July, the Paraguayan Court had already rejected an appeal by Ronaldinho’s lawyers that sought to revoke the house arrest measure. However, the authorities wanted to thoroughly investigate the Brazilian’s involvement in the alleged pyramid scam with Bitcoin.
According to local media, both he and his brother have already left Paraguayan territory for Brazil.
Ronaldinho has been linked to blockchain projects beyond the 18K scandal. In 2017, he supported an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) together with the also former player of the Brazilian team, Roberto Carlos. The following year, he launched the Ronaldinho Soccer Coin Project, an initiative that proposed the creation of “stadiums” combining virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and a blockchain.
Other famous soccer players have been involved in criminal activities with Bitcoin. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo’s name was linked to a scam with the cryptocurrency. In this case, the scam said that the celebrity has invested around USD 44 million in an alleged cryptocurrency firm. The fake news attracted victims to the platform that misused the Portuguese player’s name.
By Alexander Salazar
