Pivot of Operation “Será,” Josivaldo Bezerra, Investigated for Attempted Fraud, Claims to Have Presented Proof of His Innocence
A fan of Legião Urbana and the central figure of Operation “Será,” which led Rio’s Civil Police to search the home of music producer Marcelo Froes in pursuit of allegedly unreleased material from the band, Josivaldo Bezerra da Cruz Junior has been under investigation since 2016 for “attempted fraud, copyright violation, and possibly receiving stolen property.” These are the accusations detailed in a 2016 criminal complaint filed by Giuliano Manfredini, the son and sole heir of Renato Russo (1960–1996). At the time, the allegations were connected to Ana Paula Ulrich Tavares, a pseudonym Josivaldo used as one of the administrators of the Arquivo Legião Facebook page.
In the document, accessed by O Globo, there are reproductions of messages where Ana Paula pretended to be a journalist from the Reuters agency to contact Legião Urbana Produções Artísticas Ltda., Giuliano’s company, regarding allegedly unreleased material from the musician. The O Globo report contacted the accused, his lawyer, and Giuliano’s attorney, Fernanda Tórtima, as Giuliano opted not to give an interview.
“I cannot comment on the case, but the investigation goes far beyond fans sharing material online,” Fernanda stated.
The Accusations and the Defense
According to the criminal complaint presented by Giuliano in 2016, in January of that year, Josivaldo/Ana Paula contacted an employee of Giuliano’s company to negotiate material purportedly in Reuters’ possession. “We recently found completely unreleased recordings of Renato Russo through a joint effort between the agency and TV Globo (…) This is a serious and valuable matter, so it cannot be addressed through normal communication channels. Please direct me to someone I can speak to about this,” the reproduced message reads. According to the complaint, “Ana Paula” sought “exclusive rights to produce reports about the historical content discovered.”
The accused admits that his character, Ana Paula, posed as a journalist for the news agency and publicly apologized to followers in a 2019 post.
The material referred to in his message to Giuliano’s company consisted of recordings of Renato with South African musician André Pretorius, who died in 1988. However, the same material had already been promised to Giuliano by journalist Carlos Marcelo Carvalho, author of the biography Renato Russo: O Filho da Revolução (2009). This led Giuliano to believe he was the target of a scam. On March 28, 2016, Carlos Marcelo delivered the tape to Renato’s son, who later sent it for processing and cataloging in the musician’s archive at São Paulo’s Museum of Image and Sound.
The criminal complaint also criticizes audio file manipulations aimed at “isolating” Renato Russo’s voice, which were published online. It further suggests that “Ana Paula” may have entered Renato Russo’s apartment in Ipanema to acquire materials. On Monday, Josivaldo told O Globo that he “only visited Ipanema once in his life, last year.”
Comments from Fernanda Tórtima
While Fernanda Tórtima, Giuliano’s attorney, refrained from discussing Josivaldo’s case, she addressed the search at music producer Marcelo Froes’ home. She stated that neither she nor her client was aware of Operation “Será” until this past Monday.
“The defense requested that [Marcelo Froes] be heard, but they only learned about the search and seizure through the press,” she explained.
Fernanda also commented on the version presented by music researcher and producer Marcelo Froes, who denied having any unauthorized material in his possession. Froes lamented not being approached by Giuliano over the past decade, only to wake up with the police at his door.
For years after Renato Russo’s death, Froes represented the singer’s family in dealings with the record label EMI, a role that changed when Renato’s heir took over the management of Legião Urbana Produções Artísticas Ltda..
“He never reached out to me, never showed any interest in what I knew. Unfortunately, he turned his back on everyone,” Froes told O Globo on Monday.
“There was never any relationship between the two that would justify Giuliano reaching out to him for any reason after assuming control of the company in 2013,” Fernanda countered.
Read more in the full report published by O Globo.