CELEBRITY
RONALDINHO TO SERVE HOUSE ARREST IN A LUXURY RESORT
Brazil and Barcelona legend, Ronaldinho has been ordered to stay under house arrest – but will reside in a presidential suite at a luxurious four-star hotel after being released from prison in Paraguay.
According to UK’s Daily Mail, Ronaldinho remains under investigation for passport fraud following his and his brother Roberto’s arrest on March 6 after allegedly entering Paraguay on fake passports that said they had Paraguayan citizenship.
They were facing a jail term of six months, but after reportedly paying a £1.3million bond, the 40-year-old has been put on house arrest at the Palmaroga hotel in the country’s capital of Asuncion.
And it appears only the best places in the city will do for the Brazilian, with the hotel’s presidential suite boasting its own balcony, 55 inch smart TV, as well as a whirlpool bath and spacious kitchenette.
Ronaldinho will also be receiving five-star room service, while his brother is believed to be in the executive suite, which is located two doors down from the presidential suite.
The hotel’s luxuries do not end their however, as built on its rooftoop is a beautiful swimming pool, while the bar serves vintage cocktails for guests.
The coronavirus crisis has meant that those communal areas are said to be out of action for the time being.
And the financial impact of the pandemic has also been shown, with the cost of the presidential suite for a night around £87-per-night, three times lower than the suite’s usual price with discounts being offered due to COVID-19.
The hotel as a whole is part of a 19th century building, and offers incredible views of the Bay of Asuncion.
Ronaldinho and his brother were granted permission to stay at the hotel for the mean time by judge Gustavo Amarilla, with his case still being decided and the player’s lawyers attempting to appeal the decision to jail him.
It had been argued that he should be spared from facing prison due to his high-profile status as a former footballer, with his legal team saying his detention was ‘arbitrary, abusive and illegal’.
Ronaldinho, who last played for Brazilian outfit Fluminense in 2015, denied using a forged passport, with the former World Cup winner insisting he didn’t know he had committed an offence.
His own lawyer Adolfo Marin said the former player had been ‘stupid’ and criticised the courts for not taking into account his mistake.
‘The courts have not taken into account the fact that Ronaldinho didn’t know he was committing a crime, because he didn’t understand he had been given false documents. He is stupid.’
Despite his fall from grace, Ronaldinho has been making the most of his time behind bars and was seen taking part in a football competition and helping his side win.
He recently turned 40 and had to spend his birthday in prison, but the prisoners ensured he still had a smile on his face as they baked him a cake and prepared him a barbecue.
He has struggled to stay away from the limelight as his career began to wind down – and mostly for the wrong reasons.
In 2015, he and his brother were convicted of illegally building a fishing trap at Lake Guaiba without proper licensing in a permanent preservation area.
The pair were handed a £6.9m fine in 2018 which so far remains unpaid, leading Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice to seize Ronaldinho’s passport. And financial worries came to light after he was stopped from selling 57 of his properties due to the outstanding debts.
And in 2018 he was dubbed sexist by some after he reportedly married two wives, with one of them leaving the former star, citing aggression and opened a legal case to take one third of his earnings from 2012 to 2018 after the pair failed to reach a separation agreement in private.
At the height of his football career he won one Ballon D’or and two FIFA World Player of the Year awards, clinching two LaLiga titles and a Champions League crown with Barcelona, and also lifted the World Cup with Brazil in 2002.
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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