How mom's conversations in a Rio hair salon led to soccer star's unsubstantiated betting charges

Conversations in the hairdressing salon owned by the mother of Brazilian soccer player Lucas Paqueta were key to the West Ham forward being accused of spot fixing bets in the Premier League.

Paqueta was ultimately cleared of the charges and on Wednesday a 314-page document was published outlining the details of the case.

A commission found charges by the English Football Association to be unproven after the governing body claimed he had deliberately received yellow cards in four separate matches to affect betting markets.

A central point of the case were conversations held in the salon in Rio owned by Paqueta's mother, Christiane Tolentino, which may have led to a flurry of bets.

“I don’t know if anyone I have spoken to might have interpreted my normal conversations about Lucas as indicating that he was more likely to get a yellow card in a given match,“ she said in a witness statement.

The FA claimed 542 bets had been placed by 253 different bettors, alleging at least 27 could be connected to Paqueta from his homeland. It said bets amounting to 46,759 pounds ($62,920) had been placed, resulting in winnings of 213,704 pounds ($287,585) and a profit of 166,945 pounds ($224,660).

The FA said there was an “irresistible inference” that people had been told “directly or indirectly” that Paqueta “indicated he would deliberately seek a caution.”

Tolentino bought the salon with money gifted by her son after he joined Italian club AC Milan from Brazilian team Flamengo, the commission said.

She said she would discuss her son in the salon, including his emotional state on occasion.

“It is possible that I might have said something to someone about Lucas’ mood being low, or that he was struggling with something as part of these daily conversations. I don’t know for sure and I don’t remember anything specific, but I would consider that a normal conversation and nothing to do with gambling. It never crossed my mind that this kind of information might have been relied upon by people wanting to bet on my son,” she said.

The FA had claimed the 28-year-old Paqueta intentionally sought to be booked in games against Leicester, Aston Villa, Leeds and Bournemouth between November 2022 and August 2023 “in order for one or more persons to profit from betting.”

He was cleared in July.

Spot fixing is when elements in a game are deliberately fixed to manipulate betting markets.

In its written reasons, the commission said betting data was not “illustrative of a spot-fix” and “in many respects inconsistent with a spot-fix, but consistent with alternative explanations.”

The commission said the FA, itself, accepts its “case relies entirely on circumstantial evidence.”

During the hearing, the FA's own legal representative disagreed with the governing body's key witness.

It was not disputed that Paqueta, described as a religious person, “has no interest in betting” and had previously declined the offer of sponsorship from a betting company.

Given his character and the relatively small sums placed on the bets involving him, the commission cast further doubt on the FA's allegations.

“It simply makes no sense for a well-paid individual, who has amply demonstrated his generosity and who appears to have no interest in betting, to ‘give his family members or friends’ an advantage over bookmakers for comparatively modest sums," it wrote.

The commission said, rather than a spot-fixing operation, a more likely explanation for the betting patterns was the “random passing of ‘hot tips’ or perceived ‘inside information’ within Brazil.”

It said it found no support for the FA's case regarding Paqueta's on-field conduct when he received yellow cards — and preferred the evidence of witnesses such as former West Ham manager David Moyes.

The FA said it would not appeal the decision.

“The FA is committed to ensuring that the integrity of football is maintained, and full and thorough investigations will always be conducted into serious allegations of rule breaches,” it said in a statement.

James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

West Ham's Lucas Paqueta celebrates after scoring during the Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and West Ham in London, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)

FILE - West Ham's Lucas Paqueta runs into position during the English Premier League soccer match between West Ham United and Chelsea in London, Aug. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland, file)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The remains of two Iowa National Guard members killed in an attack in the Syrian desert were welcomed back to Des Moines on Wednesday, marking a solemn Christmas Eve for their grieving families.

Several loved ones approached the caskets carrying Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, and William Nathanial Howard, 29. The families huddled together, comforting one another and wiping away tears. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst and U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn looked on alongside senior leaders of the Iowa National Guard.

The killed guardsmen as well as a U.S. civilian interpreter killed in the Dec. 13 ambush were flown back to the U.S. last week, when President Donald Trump paid his respects and met with the families at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

On Wednesday, escorted by Howard's step-brother and two other members of the Iowa National Guard, the wooden caskets draped in American flags were lowered from the body of an Iowa Air National Guard aircraft that flew from Sioux City to collect the soldiers' remains from Delaware.

In Des Moines, like at Dover, as part of the solemn transfer ritual, fellow Iowa National Guard members wearing white gloves carried the cases. After the families spent several minutes mourning over their loved ones on the tarmac, the caskets were each loaded into a hearse, one blue and the other black.

The two soldiers, posthumously promoted to staff sergeant, were members of the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment. Their families followed the hearses in a procession to funeral homes in Des Moines and Marshalltown, escorted by Des Moines Police Department and Iowa State Patrol, respectively. Their funerals will take place in the coming days, according to the Iowa National Guard.

On the route away from the 132nd Wing at the Des Moines International Airport, dozens of people lined up on the mild December day carrying American flags and paying their respects to the killed soldiers.

Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, a U.S. civilian working as an interpreter, was also killed. He was laid to rest in Michigan over the weekend.

Hundreds of U.S. troops are deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the Islamic State group, and Trump promised “very serious retaliation” after the attack. The administration last week proceeded with military strikes in what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described as a “declaration of vengeance” in a post on social media.

Three other Iowa National Guard members were wounded in the attack, one of whom was treated locally. Two others who were evacuated from Syria for medical treatment returned to the U.S. on Dec. 20.

The remains of Staff Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Staff Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, the two Iowa National Guard members killed in an attack in the Syrian desert, are moved during a dignified transfer at the Des Moines International Airport in Des Moines, Iowa, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)