Brazilian soccer star Lucas Paqueta is facing two new charges as part of the English Football Association’s (FA) investigation into allegations of spot fixing.
The West Ham playmaker was initially charged in May with deliberately seeking to “receive a card from the referee for the improper purpose of affecting the betting market.”
The seriousness of the charges is unprecedented in English soccer. If proven, they could be career-ending for the 27-year-old.
The two new charges relate to the player’s alleged obstruction of the proceedings. Paqueta is alleged to have “lost” a key piece of evidence — a phone requested by FA investigators for data analysis.
The FA seized the Brazilian’s phone for two months last year and later returned it. When they asked for it back for further analysis, Paqueta said he no longer had it.
Suspicious Bets
The FA probe was triggered last summer by reports of suspicious betting patterns around a yellow card Paqueta received in West Ham’s draw at Bournemouth on August 12, 2023.
The investigation expanded to include bookings received in three more games against Leicester City on November 12, 2022, Aston Villa on March 12, 2023, and Leeds United on May 21, 2023.
Around 60 people in Brazil placed bets of between US$9 and US$520 on Paqueta receiving yellow cards in these games. Collectively, these bets amounted to around US$130K in winnings.
Luis Henrique Questions
It’s understood that FA investigators are looking into Paqueta’s family back in Brazil. The Brazilian news outlet UOL has reported that Paqueta’s uncle and cousin sent around US$6.5K to another Brazilian star.
Striker Luis Henrique received this payment shortly after picking up two yellow cards on two separate weekends in 2013 while playing in Spain for Real Betis. Sportsbooks also reported a flurry of suspiciously large bets on Henrique getting booked in these games.
Henrique denies wrongdoing and is not under investigation by Spanish soccer’s governing body. He is now back in his native Brazil playing for Botafogo.
Paqueta’s uncle, Bruno Toledo, claimed the transaction was a repayment of a personal loan.
Some of the suspicious bets were placed in Duque de Caxias, a city close to Paqueta Island, where Paqueta was born and raised and from which he took his name. His birth name is Lucas Tolentino Coelho de Lima.
City Deal Sunk
Spot-fixing at the elite level of English soccer is almost unheard of. Paqueta earns around US$12 million a year at West Ham, and it’s unclear why he would agree to risk his career for relatively small change when it was just about to take off.
News of the investigation sunk Paqueta’s planned transfer to EPL champion Manchester City in the summer of 2023 for a rumored US$110 million.
The proceedings against the soccer player are not expected to be resolved until late summer. In the meantime, he is free to continue playing for West Ham and Brazil.
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