North American millionaire John Textor, president of the Eagle Football Group, with interests in Olympique de Lyon, Belgium's Molenbeek, England's Crystal Palace, as well as Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, sparked controversy in the South American country by alleging match-fixing in the Brazilian league.

Botafogo's owner since March 2022, Textor has rocked Brazilian soccer by repeatedly denouncing an alleged match-fixing scheme. The mogul presented his allegations on Monday before a Senate commission investigating suspicions of match-fixing.

During three hours of questioning before the commission, led by former soccer star and current Senator Romário, Textor denounced a "black box" in the way the CBF selects referees. In particular, he cited examples of irregularities that would have benefited Palmeiras, the champions of the Brasileirao 2023.

"I'm not here to receive a trophy or to be congratulated. What we've discovered is that Brazil is no different from the rest of the world, Belgium, France, all of Europe. Match-fixing (in football) is a reality," he said.

Following that hearing, he presented documentation of the alleged manipulations contained in the report during a closed session of the Senate commission, but not to the Brazilian judiciary.

Moreover, during a virtual session in which Textor did not appear, the majority of the plenary of the Superior Court of Justice of Sports (STJD) of Football also decided to impose a 45-day suspension and a fine of 100,000 reais ($20,000/€18,700) on the billionaire.

Textor was accused of violating two articles of the Brazilian Sports Justice Code, which requires cooperation and compliance with the decisions of sports authorities. The trial was postponed twice.

In November 2023, after Botafogo's 4-3 loss to Palmeiras, the businessman strongly protested a red card given to one of his players when his team led 3-1 with a quarter of an hour left. "This is corruption, it's theft," he shouted, before calling for the resignation of the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), Ednaldo Rodrigues.

Following these events, he was provisionally suspended for 30 days, a punishment that was later increased to 45 days. The American then served 28 days of the suspension, leaving him with only 17 days to complete the punishment, according to local press reports.

In response, the Brazilian Sports Court on Friday handed down a 45-day suspension to American John Textor, owner of Botafogo de Rio de Janeiro, for insulting the president of the national soccer federation during a match his club lost to Palmeiras in November.

The deep-rooted accusations of corruption in football, which, according to the complainant himself, supplies more players to Europe, are solid evidence that Palmeiras "has benefited from match-fixing for at least two seasons. The "evidence", according to him, was "confirmed" by "experts and artificial intelligence" and compiled in a 180-page report commissioned by the French company Good Game.

The report was never published, but the American businessman made it available to the Rio police and then to an investigative commission of the Brazilian Senate headed by the star of the fourth World Cup won by Brazil in USA 94, Romário de Souza.

On his website, Textor gave examples of two Palmeiras victories: an artificial intelligence analysis of the players' movements would have detected "abnormal deviations" in the behavior of the opposing team members. He is awaiting a new trial for failing to provide the Brazilian Sports Court with evidence to support his accusations of match fixing.

Palmeiras also went to the STJD to request that the American mogul "refrain from mentioning or referring to the club in any way, under penalty of fine and suspension". In a recent interview, Palmeiras president Leila Pereira said that John Textor had "gone crazy" after the 4-3 loss to her team in November 2023. "It seems that he attributes Botafogo's failure to the match-fixing scandal, which he cannot prove. It seems he wants to make noise rather than offer solutions," said Paulo Vinicius Coelho, a journalist with the Uol website and an expert on Brazilian football.

This is not the first time that the honesty of Brazilian football has been questioned. In 2005, the "Whistle Mafia" scandal erupted when two referees colluded with bettors to fix the results of 11 games in the Brasileirao, considered by many to be the most important tournament outside Europe. Last year, several players in Brazil were suspended for their alleged involvement in match-fixing.

According to an investigation released by the Goias State Prosecutor's Office (center), players received bribes ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 to be cautioned or sent off, force corner kicks, provoke penalties or secure scores for the benefit of online betting sites.