He arrived claiming reinstatement based on a reinterpretation of power
In the long and turbulent history of Brazilian football governance, few chapters close as definitively as this one: on the night of June 1st, 2026, Augusto Melo was expelled from Corinthians' membership entirely, severed not merely from office but from the institution he once led. His removal followed a disciplinary hearing rooted in a dramatic and failed attempt, in May 2025, to reclaim the presidency he had lost to impeachment — an episode that exposed how fragile the lines of authority within a great club can become when ambition outpaces institutional trust. The expulsion does not simply punish a man; it closes a wound that had been left open far too long.
- A former president, already impeached over a sponsorship scandal, arrived at club headquarters with allies and a document claiming he had been reinstated — and was met by police called to remove him from the building.
- The legal argument underpinning his return hinged on a contested reinterpretation of council authority, effectively asking the institution to erase its own impeachment vote as though it had never happened.
- Sitting president Osmar Stabile refused to negotiate, treating the attempted reinstatement not as a governance dispute to be mediated but as an intrusion to be repelled — a choice that set the disciplinary process in motion.
- Melo sought a court injunction to halt the hearing against him, but the challenge failed and the proceedings moved forward unimpeded, culminating in the most severe sanction available: permanent expulsion from the club's membership.
- The verdict lands not just on one man but on a club still carrying the weight of the VaideBet scandal, signaling that Corinthians' leadership is willing to draw hard lines around institutional order — even at the cost of prolonged internal conflict.
Augusto Melo's relationship with Corinthians ended permanently on the night of June 1st, 2026, when a formal disciplinary hearing concluded with his expulsion from the club's associate membership. It was the final act in a governance crisis that had been building for over a year.
Melo had served as president from 2024 until August 2025, when the deliberative council voted to impeach him over his role in the VaideBet sponsorship scandal. The removal was framed as a suspension pending further proceedings — but within days, Melo moved to undo it entirely. On May 31st, 2025, he arrived at Parque São Jorge with allies and a document signed by Maria Ângela de Souza Ocampos, a council member and supporter who claimed to have assumed interim control of the deliberative body. Her argument: that a prior ethics committee ruling had invalidated the council presidency of Romeu Tuma Júnior, and therefore every decision taken under his leadership — including the impeachment itself — was void.
If the logic held, Melo was still president. It did not hold. Sitting president Osmar Stabile rejected the document outright and called the police, who dispersed Melo and his supporters from the building. The confrontation became the basis for disciplinary proceedings that examined not just what Melo had attempted, but how — the legal maneuvering, the disruption, the challenge to institutional order. When Melo sought a court injunction to block the hearing, it failed.
The verdict was expulsion: not a suspension, not a removal from office, but a permanent severing from the organization itself. For Corinthians, already strained by the VaideBet fallout, the episode had revealed something more unsettling than scandal — the capacity for internal power struggles to bring the institution to a standstill. The expulsion closes that chapter, though the fractures it exposed will take longer to heal.
Augusto Melo's time at Corinthians ended in expulsion on the evening of June 1st, 2026. The former club president was removed from the membership roster following a formal hearing that examined his conduct during a chaotic attempt to reclaim power in May 2025—months after he had already been stripped of the office.
Melo had served as president from 2024 through August 2025, when the club's deliberative council voted to impeach him over his role in the VaideBet sponsorship scandal. The removal was supposed to be temporary, a suspension pending further proceedings. But less than a week after that decision, Melo staged what became one of the most disruptive episodes in recent Corinthians history.
On May 31st, 2025, accompanied by allies, he arrived at the club's headquarters at Parque São Jorge claiming he had been reinstated. His argument hinged on a reinterpretation of who held power within the council's leadership structure. Maria Ângela de Souza Ocampos, a council member and Melo supporter who held the position of first vice-secretary, declared that she had assumed interim control of the deliberative council. She based this claim on an April 9th ruling by the club's ethics committee that had removed Romeu Tuma Júnior from his role as council president. Under her reading, all actions taken by Tuma after that date—including the impeachment vote itself—should be nullified.
If that interpretation held, then Melo's impeachment would be void, and he would be entitled to return to the presidency. Armed with a document signed by Maria Ângela, Melo presented himself at the club's administrative offices to resume command. The sitting president, Osmar Stabile, rejected the document's validity entirely. Rather than negotiate or defer the matter, Stabile called the police to disperse Melo and his supporters from the building.
The confrontation at Parque São Jorge became the catalyst for what followed. The club's leadership initiated disciplinary proceedings against Melo, examining not just the facts of his attempted reinstatement but the conduct itself—the manner in which he had tried to seize control, the legal maneuvering, the disruption to institutional order. Melo attempted to block the hearing through a court injunction, but the judicial challenge failed. The process moved forward without interruption.
When the hearing concluded, the verdict was decisive: expulsion from the club's associate membership. It was a permanent severing of ties, far more severe than the temporary suspension he had faced before. Melo was no longer simply removed from office; he was removed from the organization itself, stripped of the standing that would allow him to hold any position or participate in club governance.
The expulsion marked the end of a governance crisis that had exposed deep fractures in Corinthians' institutional structure—disagreements over who held authority, how decisions should be interpreted, and what remedies existed when those interpretations collided. For a club already burdened by the VaideBet scandal and its financial and reputational fallout, the Melo episode represented something worse: the possibility that internal power struggles could paralyze the organization itself.
Notable Quotes
Melo claimed that an ethics committee ruling removing Romeu Tuma from council leadership invalidated the impeachment vote that had removed him from the presidency— Maria Ângela de Souza Ocampos, council member and Melo ally
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did Melo think he could actually come back? What made him believe the council's decision could be overturned?
He had a technical argument—that the ethics committee's removal of Romeu Tuma from the council presidency invalidated everything Tuma had done afterward, including the impeachment vote. It was a legal gambit, not a popular uprising. But it required people to accept a very specific reading of the rules.
And Maria Ângela Ocampos went along with it?
She did more than go along. She signed the document declaring herself interim president of the council. She was his ally, and she saw a path to restore him. Whether she believed the legal reasoning or simply wanted to help him is harder to say.
But Osmar Stabile just said no.
Exactly. He rejected the document outright and called the police. There was no negotiation, no appeal to higher authority. He treated it as an attempt to seize control through procedural manipulation, and he shut it down.
So the expulsion wasn't really about the VaideBet scandal itself—it was about this May incident?
The hearing examined his conduct during the attempted reinstatement. The scandal got him impeached, but this—showing up at the building, the legal maneuvering, the confrontation—this is what got him expelled permanently.
Did he have any legal recourse left?
He tried. He went to court for an injunction to stop the hearing. It didn't work. After that, there was nowhere else to go.
What does this tell you about how fragile Corinthians' governance actually is?
That the rules can be read different ways by different people, and when that happens, the only arbiter left is whoever controls the building and can call the police.