From football players to businesswomen: Ernani Vas Antunesh’s daughters involved in the Altis case

Jessica Antunes is the eldest daughter of Ernani Antunes and is also under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and the Ministry of Public Administration. Sister, Melissa Antunes, will be appointed arguida. Jessica started a dynasty of footballers and businesswomen in the Antunes clan, followed by Melissa, four years her junior.

Ernani’s eldest daughter Antunes already represented in 2016, along with her father, Jana General Trading, an offshore company based in Dubai, which sued in Portugal against the Brazilian company Oi due to alleged unpaid commissions that Hernani claimed (lost the process) for purchase of PT by Altice. Ernani demanded $70 million for introducing the Brazilians to his Altice partners.

According to the magazine, in 2016 Jessica and her father had an official address outside of Portugal, at the Tebra Embroidery Factory, New Industrial Agra, Po Box 300. Location? Amman is the smallest emirate in the United Arab Emirates.

In Portugal, father and daughter lived at different addresses in Gualtar and Pedralva, two small parishes in the municipality of Braga. Also the headquarters of several companies controlled by the Antunes family.

Over time, it was the turn of the youngest daughter to join her father’s business. Like her sister Jessica, Melissa was born in Canada when her father was an immigrant. She holds a degree in Physical Education from the Instituto de Estudos Superiores de Fafe (IESF). He played football for clubs such as Gualtar, Maria da Fonte (Póvoa do Lanhoso), ARJ Mogege (Vila Nova de Famalicão), Santa Luzia (Viana do Castelo) and Braga. Got into the team.

On the eve of the women’s Euro 11 2017 in Holland, the newspapers described her as playing football, teaching classes on Fridays at IESF, and doing “accounting” in the afternoon. The athlete added that she is already focused on the future. “I have to start thinking about my post-football career. At the moment I don’t manage any player, I can’t, I’m an athlete, my partner does it, but that’s really the goal.” , He said.

One of the companies that Melissa owned at the time was Topballer, Sports Management, which the athlete created in November 2016 with her friend Estrela Paulo, an IESF provider and athlete’s agent. Topballer, headquartered in Guimarães and with a capital of €1,000 split between two partners, aimed to manage athletes from all sports, but football was the first target.

At Sporting de Braga, where he went to play in the 2016/17 season, Melissa and her partner will recruit several athletes. When Benfica were building the women’s team, some signings came from Topballer – this even happened to former Braga manager Joao Marques, who started coaching Benfica in 2018.

The situation with the athlete caused controversy at Braga, and Melissa was transferred to the B team, leaving the club at the end of the 2017/18 season. Today, Melissa is the managing partner of Topballer and in 2019 the company only made around €70,000 (17,000 in profit). But Melissa didn’t stop. She also became the manager of her father’s companies. Some give a lot of money, like Edge Techonology, based in the Madeira Free Trade Zone, which is majority owned by Vintagepanóplia and Vaguinfus, who were behind several real estate deals with Altice.