Brazilian businessman Victor Henrique de Oliveira Shimada, target of sanctions of the government of United States this Wednesday (1st) on suspicion of being part of a money laundering scheme of PCC (First Command of the Capital), is one of the defendants in the process that analyzes alleged irregularities in Corinthians sponsorship contract with the bookmaker VaideBet.
He has also been sentenced to five years in prisonunder an initial semi-open regime, for theft through electronic fraud and money laundering after being processed by Banco Votorantim. The bank accused him of diverting more than R$35 million from his accounts, through 2,799 transfers via Pix, to an account in the name of his company.
According to a promoter from Gaeco (Special Action Group to Combat Organized crime) from the Public Ministry of São Paulo, Shimada is considered a money laundering service provider for the PCC’s international drug trafficking, but not a member of the faction’s hierarchy.
He highlighted the high volume of money that passed through his bank accounts, suspected of having no proof of origin.
The São Paulo government’s intelligence sector does not identify it as factionalized. He was detained for 15 days at the Pinheiros Provisional Detention Center, in January 2025, and was the subject of police reports for violence domestic and embezzlement.
A law firm that represents Shimada in processes in Brazil stated, when contacted by the Sheetwho resigned this Wednesday from all the processes in which he was acting in his favor.
He was appealing the conviction for embezzlement at Banco Votorantim, stating that he did not embezzle money and was harmed in the operations targeted by the complaint. The report did not find other lawyers to represent him.
The Civil Police and the Public Ministry of São Paulo point out that a company that manages football players, accused of having links with the PCC, received more than R$1 million from payments made by Corinthians.
The link between the agency company —UJ Football Talent Intermediação— and the faction was pointed out by the whistleblower Antonio Vinícius Lopes Gritzbach, target of the attack at São Paulo International Airport, in Guarulhos.
According to the accusation, UJ Football laundered drug money in the acquisition of elite Brazilian football athletes.
Shimada is the owner of the company Victory Trading Intermediação de Negócios, Cobrança e Tecnologia, which received a total of R$13 million in the scheme investigated and transferred R$200,000 to UJ Football.
The police and the Public Ministry also point to evidence that he is the true controller of Wave Intermediações e Tecnologia, which transferred another R$867 thousand between 2024 and 2025.
The police investigation also found transfers from Victory Trading to influencer Bruno Alexssander Souza Silva, known as Hornreported after Operation Narco Betwhich investigates an international money laundering scheme linked to drug trafficking drugs. Values reach R$1 million in a single day.
Gaeco charged six people with criminal association, qualified theft and money laundering in the VaideBet scandal.
In addition to Shimada, Augusto Melo, President removed from Corinthianstwo former directors of the football club, businessman Alex Fernando André (known as Alex Cassundé) and a man appointed as an intermediary for UJ Football.
Augusto denies the accusations, stating that he “has no involvement in any irregularities linked to the case”.
According to the US Treasury, Shimada served as the main link between PCC operators in Florida and international traffickers, having laundered more than US$30 million (R$156 million) from criminal activities in several American cities through cryptocurrency transfers.
The statement says that Shimada used a network of companies to hide the origin of illicit resources and escape supervision while receiving money generated in the United States and laundering it for the PCC in Brazil.
This business structure would include Victory Trading Intermediação de Negócios Cobranças e Tecnologia Ltda., Pixwave Soluções de Pagos Ltda. and Wave Construções Inteligentes Ltda., all headquartered in São Paulo.
According to the Treasury, companies were used to give the appearance of legality to financial transactions and make it difficult to identify the origin of resources.
Shimada was charged in a court in Florida, with ten other defendants, for money laundering. Another defendant in this process is Stella Stefanie Nunes Henrique de Oliveira, who was also the target of sanctions from the American government this Wednesday. The complaint mentions income obtained from the sale of drugs.
Stella is a partner in the company Gp8 Pay Soluções de Ação, which appears as one of the companies related to Shimada in the case of embezzlements at Banco Votorantim. The proceedings in the American court continued against other defendants, but not in relation to Shimada and Stella.
A document from the court case, from March this year, shows that this occurred so that a sector of the Treasury Department “could finalize its investigation and impose sanctions.” The document shows that at that point the measure against the two was already expected due to the accusations.
Rogério Pagnan collaborated
