World

Woman Accusing Football Star Neymar of Rape Indicted for Fraud, Extortion

Brazilian model Najila Trindade, who accused football star Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior of rape earlier this year, was indicted by Brazilian police on Tuesday for procedural fraud, slanderous denunciation and extortion.
Sputnik

Trindade’s former partner, Estivens Alves, has also been accused of disclosing erotic content that was eventually shared online.

According to the BBC, the legal announcement was received with shock by Trindade’s lawyer, Cosme Araújo, who told local news outlets that his client never colluded with Alves to extort funds from the 27-year-old footballer.

The latest developments in the matter come weeks after Brazilian police, later followed by prosecutors, decided to shutter the case as a result of insufficient evidence to support Trindade’s claims that Neymar raped her at a Paris hotel on May 15, 2019.

Trindade filed the criminal complaint on May 31, telling officials in Brazil’s Sao Paulo that Neymar assaulted her after the Brazilian player invited her to visit him in France, where he plays for French club Paris Saint-Germain.

In an interview with Brazilian station SBT in an early June broadcast, Trindade recalled coming into contact with Neymar on Instagram, saying that “there was a sexual intent” when she reached out to the player.

“It was a desire of mine - I think that was clear to him,” she said. “And he asked when I could go, and I said at that moment I couldn’t - for financial reasons - I couldn’t go, and also because of my schedule at work.”

“And so he suggested, ‘Well, but I can solve that,’ and I went. With money … with the ticket,” she added, noting the pair would eventually meet up at the hotel Sofitel Paris Arc De Triomphe. 

By Trindade’s account, Neymar was “apparently drunk” when they met, and he later reportedly became aggressive with her before “practicing sexual intercourse against the will of the victim,” the police report reads.

She reportedly never contacted French police about the incident because she was “emotionally shaken and afraid to register the facts in another country.” After returning to Sao Paulo, Trindade contacted police there.

Neymar has repeatedly rejected the accusations since reports of the alleged rape first surfaced, stressing that the sexual encounter was consensual.

Discuss