A year after leaving the presidency of the CBF, Ricardo Teixeira enjoys luxury homes and cars in Florida

02/27/2013 - 09h22

The four connected islands that form the Sunset Island condominium, in Biscayne bay, in Miami, are among the city's most exclusive addresses. Prices vary between R$ 6 million, for a four-bedroom house without a view of the city (quite simple for the local standards), to R$ 30 million for a seven-bedroom luxury home on the seafront.

The high-end condominium with houses on the seafront and a private marina was chosen by the former president of the CBF (Brazilian Confederation of Soccer), Ricardo Teixeira, as his haven after more than 23 years at the head of Brazilian soccer. He resigned on March 12, 2012.

Folha obtained documents at a notary public in Florida which show that the company with headquarters at the same address as Teixeira's house in Boca Raton (65 km from Miami), paid US$ 7.4 million (some R$ 15 million) for the property in Sunset Island. It belonged to former Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova.

With seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms, one of them a spa, the two-floor mansion has 615 m² built on a 1,780 m² property. A 68-foot yacht of Italian maker Azimut was anchored at the house's marina on Sunday - the boat costs US$ 2 million (some R$ 4 million). In the garage, a Porsche and two Mercedes.

Celebrities such as Colombian singer Shakira and musicians Lenny Kravitz and Ricky Martin have houses near Sunset Island.

Teixeira was accused of receiving bribes by Fifa, the world's governing body of soccer, and involvement in a series of shady businesses at the CBF, such as a contract with TAM that benefited a company of a friend of his, and not the CBF's coffers. He left the presidency in March last year and hasn't returned to Brazil since then.

He lives in Boca Raton with his wife and his teenage daughter and spends weekends on Sunset Island. His relatives say he is awaiting the end of the school year in the U.S. to move definitively to the house.

WEB

The business with Anna Kournikova, who became more famous for her work as a model than her career as a tennis player, was closed by Ochab Properties Inc. The company was created eight days before the purchase was registered, on January 27, 2012.

Documents of the Florida Department of State show that the headquarters of Ochab are at Teixeira's address in Boca Raton. Kronos Capital Investments is registered at the same address - it was founded one day after Ochab.

Ricardo Teixeira doesn't appear in Ochab's registration. The documents show the owner of Ochab appointed American lawyer Robert B. Macaulay, a stockholder of Carton Fields law firm, as the authorized representative.

Macaulay is widely known among Brazilian businessmen and has worked in commercial enterprises between both countries since the 1980s.

Kronos was registered by Teixeira and his wife, Ana Carolina, is one of the partners. The public registration shows that the goal of Kronos is "to do any kind of business according to the law," and so is that of Ochab.

Purchasing houses through companies is common practice in the U.S. - it is done to reduce the taxes on the property. Owners obtain the advantage of a lower tax rate on the profit if the property is sold (15%) and are not double taxed if they lease it.

The property, however, will be subject to the U.S.'s inheritance tax. Also, the deed isn't confidential, as real estate registrations are public.

ASSETS

Teixeira hasn't returned to Brazil since he left the presidency of the CBF in March 2012. But he still has properties in Rio.

In 2008, his tax returns in Brazil showed he had assets of R$ 8.4 million. At the end of 2011, his main income sources were his salary as the president of the CBF, R$ 98,000 a month, and a farm in Piraí (some 90 kilometers from Rio), which produced dairy.

Just before leaving for the U.S., he sold the livestock (more than one hundred animals) and started to earn R$ 120,000 a month from the CBF, working as a consultant to his successor José Maria Marin. Marin says he has cancelled the payments.

Teixeira still has the farm in Piraí and a house in Barra da Tijuca.

In July 2011, the courts of Switzerland disclosed that Teixeira received 12.74 million Swiss francs (some R$ 26.6 million) as bribery from ISL, Fifa's main partner for more than a decade.

Folha contacted Teixeira, but he did not want to comment on the house on Sunset Island.

Robert B. Macaulay, representative of Ochab, according to a document registered in a notary public in Florida, says he talked to Teixeira about the subject, but didn't answer by the time the newspaper went to press.

TRANSLATED BY THOMAS MUELLO