On Tuesday, the IBJJF and CBJJ issued a joint statement permanently banning Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach Melquisedeque "Melqui" Galvão from both organizations and from every event they sanction. The statement called his alleged conduct "unacceptable" and a violation of "the most fundamental ethical principles," and it specifically commended the athletes who came forward.

The ban followed by one day Galvão's surrender to police in Manaus. A São Paulo court had issued a temporary arrest warrant on April 23, ordering 30 days of pretrial detention. Galvão, 47, is the father of multi-time world champion Mica Galvão and the head of the competition program that has produced Diogo Reis, Fabricio Andrey, and Brenda Larissa, among others. He has not entered a plea. Brazilian law presumes innocence. What follows are the allegations on the record.

According to reporting from BJJDoc, the warrant was issued by the 2nd Court of Crimes Against Children and Adolescents of São Paulo, with the Civil Police of Jundiaí leading the investigation. The charges fall under four articles of the Brazilian Penal Code: Article 217-A (rape of a vulnerable person, defined as a minor under 14 or otherwise vulnerable), Article 215-A (sexual harassment), Article 147 (threats), and Article 154-A (unauthorized invasion of an electronic device). The investigation also references Brazil's Child and Adolescent Statute (Law 8.069/90) and Law 13.441/2017.

Portuguese-language reporting in Metrópoles, corroborated by BJJEE, describes at least five alleged victims across multiple states. The lead complainant is reported to be a former student now 17. One alleged victim has stated the abuse began when she was 12. Investigators are reviewing claims that some incidents involved drugging during competitions and training camps.

The audio

What turned this from a private complaint into a national story is a roughly 13-minute audio recording handed over to the Civil Police by the father of one alleged victim. Excerpts have been reported by BJJDoc and BJJEE. The recording, attributed to Galvão, includes the line: "I'm totally sorry. I couldn't sleep well last night. I don't think anything can justify my behavior."

It also includes: "As a leader and as an older man, I should never have acted the way I did with your daughter." And: "She has no fault in this. The fault is entirely mine."

Galvão, in the recording, admits to touching the alleged victim's stomach while he believed she was sleeping, and to kissing and hugging her. He denies more intimate contact. He calls his actions inexcusable, and then, in the same recording, he tries to make sure no one finds out about them.

The bribe is documented in detail. According to the reporting, Galvão offered to facilitate a partnership in an Orlando, Florida academy, naming an investor he claimed would accept the alleged victim's father as a partner. The package included travel, accommodation, and a path for the athlete to remain at the academy through her black belt promotion. He framed the U.S. relocation as something that "changes your whole life." He was also, by his own words, fully aware of what would happen if it didn't work: "As much as maybe there are no proofs to incriminate me, put me behind bars, it will make my name bad," and, "If my name falls, the entire project falls, and many people will lose opportunities."

That is the leverage stated plainly. The careers built around him are what he uses to keep them quiet.

The father turned the audio over to the police anyway.

What the federations said

The IBJJF and CBJJ statement, posted on Instagram April 28, reads in part: "the acts attributed to Mr. Melqui Galvão are unacceptable and violate the most fundamental ethical principles." Both organizations announced the immediate, permanent ban from "any sanctioned event" and reaffirmed a commitment to "safe, ethical, and respectful environments." They did not hedge, and they did not wait for trial. The most pointed line in an otherwise standard institutional statement: "We commend the athletes who had the courage to come forward."

This is what 24-hour action looks like, and it is not what these federations have usually shown. Other cases in this sport have been sitting in investigative limbo for months. The contrast does not need spelling out.

Mica Galvão's response

Mica Galvão, the 21-year-old multi-time world champion and the most public face of his father's program, posted a statement on the day of the arrest: "I feel obligated to be honest: let the facts be investigated seriously and let Justice fulfill its role. As a person, I repudiate any form of harassment or violence against women and children. This is a value I carry and that has no exceptions."

It is a hard sentence to write, and a harder one to mean. Mica is not the person on trial here. He is also the person in this sport with the most to lose by saying what he just said. He said it the day his father turned himself in. That decision belongs in the record alongside the rest of it.

The pattern

This is the third arrest of a high-profile BJJ coach in roughly ten days. In Curitiba on April 21, a black belt gym owner was arrested after surveillance footage documented him choking his wife while holding their daughter; he was released on R$1,621 bail the same day. The Atos / Andre Galvão investigation, which broke earlier this year, is still unresolved on multiple fronts. And now this.

For more than a year the conversation in jiu-jitsu has been about what happens when the people who run the gyms are protected by the careers the gyms produce. Those careers, in this case, are real. Diogo Reis is a Brasileiro champion, Fabricio Andrey is one of the top featherweights in the sport, Brenda Larissa is a Brasileiro champion in her division. The students built themselves. What is finally being adjudicated, in actual courts, is the assumption that a coaching résumé is a shield.

It isn't.

The federations moved in 24 hours because the audio was on the record and the courage was on the record. Both came from people the sport never put on a podium. The federations put them on one this week, with a single statement. It isn't enough. It is what was available today.

This post was generated by AI. Sources are linked below. Follow @bjj-problems on YouTube for the weekly video digest.

Sources

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