RECIFE, PE (FOLHAPRESS) – A Lamborghini Urus flaunted on the social media of lawyer and influencer Deolane Bezerra, arrested this Wednesday (4) in Recife, was central to the discovery of her involvement in an alleged criminal organization that operates in illegal gambling and money laundering and that would have moved almost R$ 3 billion.
The Pernambuco Court upheld the lawyer’s arrest after a custody hearing on Thursday (5), one day after her arrest in a Civil Police operation. When contacted, Deolane’s defense did not respond until publication. On the day of her arrest, she declared herself a victim of persecution and injustice.
The purple car, purchased in the second half of 2023, previously belonged to the company Esportes da Sorte, identified as the main agent in the scheme under investigation. The virtual betting house founded in the capital of Pernambuco and operating throughout the country has Deolane Bezerra on its team of ambassadors.
Since Wednesday, the influencer and her mother, Solange Bezerra, have been detained in the Women’s Penal Colony of Recife. They are just 2 of the 19 targets of the operation.
The Lamborghini, acquired by the influencer through her company Bezerra Publicidade e Comunicação LTDA for R$4 million, was resold shortly afterwards, which caught the attention of investigators.
The report had access to the court decision that authorized the warrants and contains details of the alleged scheme revealed by Operation Integration.
When authorizing the search and arrest warrants, Judge Andréa Calado da Cruz said that the measures needed to be applied urgently to prevent “those under investigation from disposing of assets resulting from crime or acquired with resources obtained through criminal means.”
“There is sufficient evidence of the crime of money laundering,” says the judge.
Regarding the purchase and sale of the vehicle, the judge points out that such activity “suggests an attempt to hide and disguise the illicit origin of the funds” and that “the rapid purchase and sale of a high-value asset is a classic method of money laundering”.
In her statement to the police on Wednesday morning, Deolane confirmed that she received money from the betting house through advertising contracts, as revealed by Jornal do Commercio and confirmed by the report.
However, she denied involvement in money laundering crimes. The CEO of Esportes da Sorte, Darwin Henrique da Silva Filho, is one of the other targets of an arrest warrant in the operation, but has not been located by the police. His defense stated that he would turn himself in this Thursday, but as of publication this had not happened.
His father, Darwin Henrique da Silva, owner of the Caminho da Sorte animal stall, also had an arrest warrant issued. According to the family’s lawyer, Pedro Avelino, he does not intend to appear when summoned by the authorities.
DEOLANE’S MOTHER MOVED MONEY FOR A COMPANY LINKED TO BET
Deolane’s mother, Solange Bezerra, is also suspected of being part of the scheme. The investigation indicates that she received and sent amounts “above her financial capacity, with high fragmentation in the counterparties and rapid evasion of resources, in addition to amounts frequently rounded to the nearest thousand without any justification found for this.”
Among the sums transferred, amounts of R$10,000, R$15,000 and R$20,000 appear frequently.
The money moved by Deolane’s mother was destined for the company Pay Brokers Cobrança e Serviço, also investigated in the operation, and for Pixs Brasil Cobrança e Serviço, which belongs to one of the partners of Pay Brokers.
This is where, once again, the relationship between the Bezerra family and Esportes da Sorte becomes closer, according to the police. The company run by Darwin Filho received almost R$10 million from Pay Brokers between March 2022 and March 2023, investigators point out.
These amounts, as indicated by the investigation documents obtained by the report, were destined for bets made through the Esportes da Sorte platform, which also provides live casino options, such as Fortune Tiger, the “tiger game”.
Among those suspected of involvement in the financial transactions scheme are also a sister and a brother of Darwin Filho. All of these financial transactions revealed suspicious patterns, such as fractional deposits, which raised the hypothesis of money laundering.
The latest report released by the Civil Police of Pernambuco on Thursday afternoon says that 10 of the 19 arrest warrants had been served so far, in addition to the 24 search and seizure warrants.
The amounts seized total R$439,869 in cash, 2,153 dollars in cash (approximately R$12,146.15), 5,819 euros in cash (approximately R$36,372.34) and 6,310 pounds sterling in cash (approximately R$46,567.80).
Also seized were two aircraft and two helicopters valued at R$127 million, five luxury cars valued at R$24.4 million; 37 luxury women’s handbags, 76 rings, 17 pieces of jewelry of various models and 16 luxury watches.
