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Jessica Andrade accuses former coach of allegedly stealing $2 million
Former UFC women’s strawweight champion Jessica Andrade has filed a lawsuit against former coach and manager Gilliard Parana, accusing the leader of Parana Vale Tudo of embezzlement. According to the report from MMA Fighting, Andrade filed the case in the U.S., but Parana is currently residing in Brazil so she is not sure how things will unfold.
“We have a lawsuit going about TransferWise and the money that was transferred to other people I’ve never seen in my life,” Jessica Andrade told MMA Fighting. “That happened when he was taking care of my finances, and I had no access to anything. At one point he said, ‘Jessica, look, let me handle this for you, you don’t have to worry about any of this.’ And as always, I trusted him. He removed my access to the account. He said, ‘You don’t need to look at your accounts, you’ll have a monthly salary.’ I was making good money in the beginning, but in the end, I don’t know how [that money ran out].
“He said I was shopping too much on Amazon, but with the investigation and all that, [we saw that] I made $2 million and spent $10,000 on Amazon. Where did the rest of the money go? It makes no sense, and it’s being investigated now, and we’ll find out where every penny went. I’ll just wait for now. I’m preparing for this fight [on Saturday], and as soon as it’s over, I’ll look at this lawsuit again and keep it moving
“The lawsuit is moving in the United States and he’s in Brazil, so I don’t know how it’s going to work. He was quite smart, he left before things happened.”
Jessica Andrade returns to the octagon this Saturday, Sept. 7, in a co-headlining battle against Natalia Silva at UFC Vegas 97.
Parana denied all accusations to MMA Fighting and said his words will proven during the investigation.
“Anyone who has a brain and knows how to do math will see that she really doesn’t spend her money on just a few purchases on Amazon,” Parana said in a statement to MMA Fighting. “She has a lot of expenses, and there are so many that she even gets lost in the calculations. Jessica is not incapable. Jessica is not a 15-year-old girl. And Jessica is not illiterate. Jessica was never forbidden from going to the bank, from calling the bank and from finding out how her accounts were.
“Jessica always had full access to her things and was always intelligent enough to know everything that happened in her financial life. And I was never the guy who took care of her financial life. I was just her advisor when she needed it and asked for it. But all of this will be proven if there is a coherent investigation. May justice be served and may the wrongdoer pay, because lying to the authorities and lying to have a trial go your favor is also a crime. Let’s wait and see what happens.”
