Former UFC strawweight champion Jessica Andrade has filed a lawsuit alleging that her former manager, Gilliard Parana, embezzled her money during their partnership which ran from 2012 to 2024.
The $2 million lawsuit comes as Andrade is set to return to the Octagon in early September and was filed in the United States, even though both the plaintiff and defendant are Brazilian.
Parana has returned to Brazil since splitting with Andrade, a move that Andrade said was “wise.”
“The lawsuit is in the U.S. and he's in Brazil so who knows what's going to happen. He was very smart and left before it happened.”
Andrade said that when Parana was her manager, “he [her] She was in financial difficulty and had “no access to anything.”
“At one point he said, 'Jessica, look, I'm going to do this for you. You don't have to worry about anything.' And like always, I trusted him. He took away access to my accounts. He said, 'You don't need to look at your accounts. You get a paycheck every month.' At first I was making good money, but then I didn't know how I was making it. [that money ran out]”Andrade said. Mixed Martial Arts.
“Jessica is not illiterate. Jessica has never been banned from going to the bank.”
Parana denied the allegations, saying he had “always had free access to my possessions and was intelligent enough to know everything that happened in my financial life.”
He added that he was “never the person in charge of her finances.”
“I was just her advisor,” he continued. “A thorough investigation will prove all of this.”
Another of Andrade's allegations was that her former coach said she was “spending too much time shopping on Amazon.”
“I made $2 million and spent $10,000 on Amazon.[?] “Where did the rest of the money go? It doesn't make any sense. We are currently investigating and will find out where every penny went. Now we just have to wait and see,” she said.
Parana countered the accusations, saying anyone “with a brain and who can do math” would know her money wasn't just spent on Amazon purchases, adding that the fighter was more likely spending so much that he lost track of his calculations.
“Jessica is not a 15-year-old girl. And Jessica is not illiterate. Jessica has never been prohibited from going to the bank, calling the bank or checking her account balance,” Parana added.
At the same time, the Brazilian coach said he expected the accusations to concern her earnings in 2023, but that there is no way she would have earned $2 million that year.
“That's probably close, unless she fights Conor McGregor and nobody knows about it,” Parana said, poking fun at the idea, adding that if the media and fans were to pay close attention, they would likely conclude that her calculations weren't right.
Andrade now lives in Las Vegas and trains with fellow pro fighters Karol Rosa, Jessica Delboni and Dennis Gomez, all of whom also left Paraná's gym (Paraná Vale Tudo) last year.
Parana attributed the players' departure to his retirement from his position and said he knew the players would leave after he announced he was stepping down as coach.
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