The former treasurer of Caixa Econômica Federal in Espírito Santo who embezzled more than R$880,000 to generate credits in bets was diagnosed with ludopathy, a mental disorder characterized by addiction or loss of control over the compulsion to gamble and bet.
The diagnosis was described by a psychiatric doctor in a report attached to a request for guardianship presented by the former employee himself, identified as Irineu Barth Júnior.
In the document, to which g1 had access, the psychiatrist stated that the patient displayed prodigal behavior — “putting himself in a situation of financial risk, wasting the family wealth for several months and having significant debt”.
In the report, the expert suggested an urgent ban with the appointment of a curator. The request was accepted in July this year by the Single Court of Santa Teresa, in the Mountain Region of the state, which determined that Irineu's sister would become responsible for managing the former treasurer's assets.
🔍 In Brazilian civil law, the prodigal is the person who dissipates, in a disorderly, excessive and usually unjustified manner, his assets, putting his own subsistence and the safety of his family at risk.
“He didn’t keep 1 real”, says lawyer about embezzled money
According to the report, Irineu was also diagnosed with severe depression and began treatment with psychiatric medications. According to lawyer Abner Jefter Pantoja de Oliveira, who is part of the former employee's defense, he remains on leave from the National Social Security Institute (INSS) and is unable to work.
"The INSS recognized his incapacity, but this did not reduce all the legal consequences he has been facing. The illness justifies the actions, but he did not stop suffering any consequences due to the illness", he highlighted.
The lawyer also said that the psychological condition affected the former employee's ability to understand the seriousness of the acts while the deviations were occurring.
"Ludopathy is characterized by the loss of control over the game, despite the losses. A person who borrows money, cards from third parties and gets loaded with debt behaves like him. The difference with him, unfortunately, was the access he had", he added.
According to the defense, Irineu also suffered significant personal losses, in addition to the amounts embezzled from Caixa Econômica Federal. "He used all the money to generate credit at the betting house, he also took out a large loan. He didn't keep 1 real."
The lawyer also stated that the defense intends to take legal action against the betting platforms to try to recover the amounts transferred as a result of the disorder.
Understand the case
Irineu Barth Júnior is the former treasurer of Caixa Econômica do Espírito Santo and admitted at a hearing that he used cashiers at the Praia do Canto branch, in Vitória, to pay bills and generate credits on betting platforms. The amount diverted exceeds R$880 thousand.
The case was detailed in a first-degree decision by the Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region (TRF2), to which g1 had access. Among the sanctions imposed are the return of the embezzled amount and a civil fine of the same amount — the two obligations total R$1,779,120, without monetary adjustments.
According to the process, the embezzlement of money occurred between July 2020 and July 2021. At the time, Barth Júnior was the agency's treasurer and took care of the supply and control of the terminals.
The lack of money was discovered on July 28, 2021, during the professional's medical leave. The employee who replaced him counted the bills and compared the total with the balances recorded in the bank's system. There was more than R$221,000 missing from each of the four pieces of equipment. With the discovery of the hole, Barth Júnior was fired by Caixa.
Also according to the sentence, the former employee admitted at a hearing that he used money from the agency's cash register to pay invoices that generated credits on betting platforms, withdrawing the amounts. He also confessed to appropriating the amounts in the bank's internal investigation.
The Federal Police investigation confirmed the conclusions of the Caixa audit and supported the administrative improbity action filed by the Federal Public Ministry (MPF).
