Lawyers are sentenced after failing to pass on R$239,000 from the lawsuit won to their client The Cremasco law firm, from Campinas (SP), and lawyers José Antonio Cremasco and Thais Proença Cremasco were ordered to pay R$239,500 to a client who did not receive the amount won in a 2014 labor lawsuit. The decision, which was published on Friday (3), can be appealed. According to the Public Security Secretariat of the State of São Paulo (SSP-SP), the Civil Police is investigating other alleged cases of appropriation of values ??that would be destined for workers in processes under the responsibility of the same office and the same defenders. There are at least nine investigations. One of them, in 2025, was initiated following a complaint sent by the Public Ministry of the State of São Paulo (MP-SP). ? Click here to follow the g1 Campinas channel on WhatsApp In an interview with EPTV, a TV Globo affiliate, Thais held José Antonio, whose daughter she is, responsible for the alleged appropriations — read the full statement below. The lawyer stated that the clients signed service contracts with her father's office, where she has not worked since 2024 after breaking off relations due to complaints from workers who had been harmed. "It is important to highlight that Cremasco [José Antonio] was the one who indicated which account the money should go into. There were more than 20 offices, with 20 lawyers on the team, and each one received this money and passed it on to Cremasco, who was the lawyer in the case. He paid the clients", he said. “Never did I, as a lawyer, as a daughter, imagine that he could be appropriating clients’ money,” she added. Thais and José Antonio Cremasco were ordered to pay the worker Reproduction/EPTV/Disclosure In turn, José Antonio held Thais responsible for the alleged appropriations, as the daughter "had full management of both my business account and her own current account". He also considered that there is no news of a client who has not received amounts arising from processes prior to 2022 or since 2025 — read below. "Even so, he has forwarded and paid cases for Law Firm clients, even when these amounts were not even paid into his business current account or had amounts available to him", said José Antonio. In a statement, the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) informed that Thais is no longer a member of the São Paulo Bar's Sectional Council, having resigned from the position this year. As for the alleged appropriations, there are processes in progress at the TED (Court of Ethics and Discipline), under legal secrecy. The MP was contacted, but did not comment until the last update of this article. Conviction Police investigate father and daughter lawyers for embezzlement against clients in Campinas According to the decision of judge Felipe Guinsani, of the 7th Civil Court of Campinas, a man had hired the Cremasco office to defend him in a labor action, which was processed in the 10th Labor Court of Campinas. The worker would have won the case, worth R$319,402.58. Of the total, 25% would remain with the firm for fees, while R$239,551.93 would be passed on to the client. Through a court order, the man learned that payment for the action had already been made to an account related to the office. He notified his lawyers extrajudicially, but received no response, so he filed a lawsuit to obtain the amount he is entitled to. "The defendants' conduct constitutes breach of contract and an unlawful act, in that the agents raised the amounts resulting from the success of the labor claim and did not pass them on to the principal, retaining an amount beyond what was authorized by the contract", assessed Guinsani. José Antonio, Thais and the office were ordered to pay the R$239,500 owed, as well as R$20,000 in compensation for moral damages. Other cases Felipe said he was one of the victims after winning the labor case Reproduction/EPTV EPTV spoke to two other alleged victims of the situation. Street vendor Felipe Costa Araújo suffered an accident at the painting company where he worked, was fired and filed a labor lawsuit. He won the case in 2018, but began to suspect that the part he was entitled to of the amount received by the Cremasco office was not transferred. "I started calling them and wanting the money and they were just fooling me, fooling me, fooling me. And then I got tired and got another lawyer to see what was happening. When I went to see, they had already received the money", said Felipe. Edson Vidotti, on the other hand, filed a labor lawsuit against the Municipal Development Company of Campinas (Emdec) in 2021 and won. The company made payments in six installments, one of which exceeded R$200,000, but the office did not make the transfer. "I went there and they said: 'no more money, no more money'. Several times. They didn't serve us correctly", he reported. According to lawyer Danilo Andrietta, who defends Edson, the Cremasco office transferred only R$55,000, retaining around R$370,000, which would be his right after deducting fees. "Their justification was that they were having operational problems and had difficulty identifying which resource belonged to which client and that, because of this, they had not been able to make the transfer. A justification that didn't make any sense," said Danilo. What Thais says Thais says that José Antonio would have formally confessed to debts with clients Personal archive/Reproduction Thais said that, in the case of the conviction, as in others, the money did not enter his account and that he found out about it through the client. According to her, all lawyers in the office had to transfer amounts related to cases to an account indicated by José Antonio, who would be responsible for making payments. Therefore, the lawyer only found out about the appropriations due to complaints from clients. "Clients asked for progress in the process, they went to the office and questioned it. I took these questions to Cremasco and he always said: 'the process is mine, the client is mine, pass the client on to me and I will resolve it'", he reported. Thais stated that, before breaking off his relationship with his father in 2024, he had signed a document in which he allegedly acknowledged responsibility for debts owed to clients. "Unfortunately, there is a lot of evidence of even verbal violence against me and I lost a father, I lost my hero, I lost my best friend. But, perhaps, I needed all of this to find my strength and to walk not only for my image, but for all the women I represent", she said. The defender also commented that it is "very difficult to recognize this as a daughter", but that "it is very clear" that José Antonio "committed misappropriation". She also proposed to help the alleged victims by requesting the garnishment of legal fees from future legal proceedings related to the office. "It may seem incredulous that a woman who works with domestic violence would sign a blank document, lend her name to someone to make debts in her name, but this relationship of trust, of affection, made me truly believe that he would never be capable of committing all these atrocities", he concluded. What José Antonio says File image by José Antonio Cremasco Reproduction/EPTV The lawyer sent a note, in which he says: That he had no financial management of the office in the period between 2022 and 2024, when Dr. Thaís Proença Cremasco, daughter of the signatory, had full management of both my business account and her own current account; That, even so, he has forwarded and paid cases for the Law Firm's clients, even when these amounts were not even paid into his business current account or had amounts available to him; That Dr. Thaís Cremasco has not had any ties with Advocacia Cremasco since November/2024, and is in the process of rendering accounts for the above period before the Court; That there is no news of a client that has not received amounts resulting from processes since 2025 or before 2022; That he hired a professional specialized in office administration in August/2025, third to any personal relationship, in order to financially organize the receipts of Advocacia Cremasco and to avoid problems such as those mentioned in that matter; That the Judiciary, even aware of the situation, continues to issue lifting permits to Dr. Thaís Proença Cremasco, even with a special power of attorney to receive expressly revoked since leaving the office, in November/2024; Which recognizes its responsibility for the name of the office and is available to all clients, operating in Campinas since 1980 and at the same professional address for over 20 years, making payments to all clients in arrears as new receipts are received. 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