Lawyer Maria Claudia Bucchianeri will handle 3 confederation actions in Brasília; The contract does not have a success clause, R$5 million has already been paid and one of the cases (against Marfrig) has already been practically won by the CBF; other lawyers such as Pierpaolo Bottini and José Eduardo Cardozo were hired to defend Ednaldo Rodrigues when the director had been removed from the entity
A CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) hired a lawyer for R$10 million Maria Claudia Bucchianeriwho previously served as substitute minister of TSE (Superior Electoral Court) and has excellent traffic in higher courts in Brasília. The contract runs from January 2024 and includes monitoring 3 CBF causes in the federal capital.
Of the R$ 10 million agreed and defined by Ednaldo Rodrigues, president of the CBF, Bucchianeri has already received R$ 5 million in cash (according to the invoice to which the Power360 had access). The other R$5 million will be paid in 10 monthly installments of R$500 thousand, this year 2024 (according to the contract to which the Power360 also had access).
Bucchianeri's signing does not include a “success clause” –which establishes extra payment for the lawyer only if the client wins the case. This is uncommon in complex cases. Payment of 50% upfront is also unusual in the market for a value of this magnitude. read here the contract signed between the lawyer and the CBF (PDF – 3 MB).
It is noteworthy that, of the 3 causes on which Bucchianeri will work, there is one process in which the CBF is already practically the winner. The case is against the Marfrigwhich had broken a contract with the confederation in the past, filed appeals and has already lost at the STJ (Superior Court of Justice).
The case can still be taken to the STF (Supreme Federal Court), but it is a practically lost cause for the food company, which is currently one of the largest beef producers on the planet. The owner of Marfrig, Marcos Molina, has excellent relations with the dean (oldest) minister of the STF, Gilmar Mendes: they both have apartments in the same building in Lisbon, Portugal. But the Supreme Court in these cases does not usually reverse a commercial case already decided by the STJ.
The amount to be paid by the food company to the confederation is around R$70 million, but will be defined during the settlement phase.
In the 2023 reference report, Marfrig considered “likely” the chance of defeat in the action and estimated a fine of R$58.9 million. There are estimates that the total value could reach R$290 million. The trial is in the embargo analysis phase, but the Power360 consulted experts and the chance of reversing the situation is close to zero.
Marfrig is represented in this case by the firm Mudrovitsch Lawyers, from Rio de Janeiro. The founder of this bank, Rodrigo de Bittencourt Mudrovitsch, is known for excellent relations with higher court magistrates in Brasília. He has already provided services to Gilmar Mendes as a lawyer.
The other 2 cases for which Bucchianeri was hired are smaller cases than Marfrig's.
One of them is against BRFwhat it was questioned by CBF in 2016 for having used imagery elements of the Brazilian football team in its advertisements (from the Sadia brand, in the campaign “My lucky pet”). The amount has not yet been determined and the case is still ongoing.
The 3rd case is against the Coke. Its about process of 2001. It involves breaking a contract that the beverage company had with the confederation. The amount stipulated for the case was R$10 million. Coca-Cola has already paid half of this amount (R$5 million). The other R$5 million, corrected, would now be R$55.2 million. The process remains ongoing.
Lawyers consulted by Power360 said that the value of Bucchianeri's contract is in the upper quartile of values paid in that market. But they claim that it is not an unusual remuneration for newsstands in Brasília.
The contract was made official on January 12, 2024. An invoice charging R$5 million was already issued on January 18. More than 30 days have passed since she was chosen to represent the CBF, the lawyer had not yet been formally included (through powers of attorney) in the processes in which she will work at the STJ. She also did not meet with the lawyers already working on the cases. After being contacted by Power360Bucchianeri added the powers of attorney to the actions in which he will act.
Lawyer José Perdiz, who represented the CBF until the end of 2023 in the action at the STJ, says he was not informed about the change of the case to another panel.
O Power360 also contacted CBF and Marfrig to ask if they would like to comment on the contract. Both decided not to comment on the case.
LAWYERS AND BRASILIA
CBF has made large investments in hiring lawyers. At the end of 2023, Ednaldo Rodrigues was removed from the position of president of the entity by the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro. After a legal battle that ended in the STF, he ended up regaining his seat on January 4, 2024 by decision of Minister Gilmar Mendes.
In his order, Mendes maintained that Ednaldo's return to command of the CBF was a necessary measure. According to the minister, the judicial removal put at risk the CBF's ability to register the Brazilian football team in the qualifying tournament for the Paris Olympics, this year 2024. Despite everything being in the private sphere, the magistrate said he had seen “imminent risk” because in a few days the team registration period would end. Ednaldo returned to his post and entered the team in the competition. But the players on the field ended up disqualified.
To defend himself from being removed from office, Ednaldo Rodrigues had help from the CBF. Even with him out of office, the confederation hired lawyers to try to put him back in the chair. It was as if a mayor out of office had the city paying lawyers to defend him.
In the case of Ednaldo, the CBF did not save any money. Renowned lawyers were hired with the mission of trying to reverse the decision of the Rio de Janeiro Court. The confederation sought support from 2 offices known for having extensive traffic in Brasília: Bottini & Tamasauskas (by Pierpaolo Bottini and Igor Tamasauskas) and Martins Cardozo (by former Minister of Justice José Eduardo Martins Cardozo). The two law firms each received R$2.2 million.
Ednaldo himself also has close relationships with the legal world. He signed a cooperation agreement with the IDP (Brazilian Institute of Teaching, Development and Research), a private teaching company founded by Gilmar Mendes 25 years ago and today led by Francisco Mendes, the minister's son, who is the school's general director.
On August 16, 2023, the CBF and the IDP announced a partnership for the management and operation of the so-called CBF Academy. This business unit of the confederation offers courses in Brazil and abroad for those who want to become professionals in the football market.
The value of the contract between IDP and CBF was not revealed. It is known that 84% of the course revenue will go to the IDP and 16% will go to the confederation. CBF Academy, in its good times in 2019 (before the Covid-19 pandemic), had revenue in the range of tens of millions of reais per year.
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