Former Brazil international Dani Alves has returned €150,000 to the father of Neymar Jr. which was given to him to help with his defence against a sexual assault charge, for which he was later convicted.
Alves’ lawyer, Inés Guardiola, confirmed to French news agency AFP on Thursday that the ex-Barcelona player, who is on bail pending an appeal against the rape conviction, sent the money back last week.
Alves, 40, was sentenced to 4½ years in prison on Feb. 22 after Catalonia’s top court found him guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in a Barcelona nightclub in 2022.
However, he was released from jail on March 25 after making the €1 million ($1.08m) bail payment required as he awaits the result of his appeal.
Reports in March had also claimed Neymar Sr. helped Alves post the €1m bail, but he denied that was the case, saying the “situation was different” now that there was a conviction.
Alves played alongside Neymar Jr. at Barça, as well as with the Brazil national team and for a short while at Paris Saint-Germain.
