Head of volleyball body targeted by Brazilian fraud probe
MAURICIO SAVARESE, 20 May 2021
SAO PAULO (AP) — The president of the International Volleyball Federation is being investigated in his native Brazil as part of a wider fraud probe launched on Thursday. Rio de Janeiro police and state prosecutors said in a statement that Ary Graça, who has headed FIVB since 2012, and nine other people are suspected of tax fraud, money laundering and identity fraud.
Investigators say Graça used money from a sponsorship deal between Banco do Brasil and the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation to pay for contracts with suspected shell companies in the city of Saquarema, outside Rio de Janeiro. Graça was head of the Brazilian body until 2014. A former mayor of the city was also charged.
Police said those companies belonged to officials of the Brazilian Volleyball Confederation who had close connections with Graça.
Graca lives in Switzerland, where FIVB is based. The federation told Brazilian daily Folha de S.Paulo that he will challenge the allegations.
