Melqui Galvao

Melqui Galvão holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and built his reputation as a prominent member of Alliance Team in Amazonas, Brazil. Operating out of the Amazon region, he established himself within the martial arts community as both a competitor and an instructor. Alongside his role in jiu-jitsu, Galvão served as an instructor of personal defense (defesa pessoal) with the Amazonas Civil Police — a position that conferred significant institutional authority and credibility within the communities he worked in.

Galvão founded a social project offering free Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training to children from impoverished communities across the Amazon region. The program drew widespread public praise and was celebrated as a model for how martial arts could drive social transformation, reportedly producing world champions from underprivileged backgrounds. Galvão was publicly recognized as a figure using jiu-jitsu to create opportunities for children who would otherwise have had no access to the sport.

The project, however, became the focal point of grave criminal allegations. Investigators allege that rather than functioning as a genuine social initiative, the program served as a vehicle for the systematic sexual abuse of minors.

Victims' Accounts

As of 2026, nine women have filed police reports against Galvão. The youngest to make a public statement said she was twelve years old when the abuse began. One former student described the arrangement in stark terms: "He came to me and said it wasn't free, that I would have to pay, and I paid in the worst possible way." She continued: "I'm making this video for my sister. He abused my sister, too. He raped her, too. Just like he did to me."

Galvão's position as a serving police officer is alleged to have been central to the control he maintained over his victims. One woman recounts that at age twelve, he told her: "If you report me, I'll know, because I'm a police officer." She remained silent for approximately fourteen years — from around 2012 until 2026.

The Rome Incident

In February 2026, a seventeen-year-old athlete traveling with Galvão in Rome reported waking to find his hand beneath her shirt. Her family provided an audio recording in which Galvão addressed the incident directly, stating: "I touched her stomach. I touched it quickly. I thought she was sleeping for about 3 seconds, maybe at most. I deeply regret that. I deeply regret having done that." Following that admission, he allegedly attempted to negotiate the young woman's silence while shifting responsibility onto her.

Arrest and Prior History

Galvão was arrested on April 28, 2026, and subsequently transferred approximately 2,000 kilometers south to a prison in São Paulo's northern zone. His brother, Enoque Galvão — also a civil police officer — was arrested on May 26, 2026, on charges involving two girls from the same social project.

A prior tragedy is associated with Galvão's history: accounts indicate that in 2007, his first wife lost her life outside her home, in front of her daughter, one year after she had reportedly gone to a police station with a handwritten note documenting threats he had made against her. No one has ever been charged in connection with her death. This account has not been independently verified, and details remain disputed.

Within days of Galvão's initial detention following his April 28, 2026 arrest, investigators alleged that his brother Enoque had obtained a cell phone for him inside the facility. Galvão allegedly used that phone to pressure witnesses, directing one to "say that him and [one of the victims] made everything up" and instructing the same witness: "We need something intimate to show the judge she's not an innocent girl."

A second phone was seized on June 25, 2026, from his cell at a different facility. A court ordered his continued detention on grounds of witness interference. In total, Galvão was caught using smuggled cell phones on two separate occasions — once while held in Amazonas and once while held in São Paulo.

The Defense's Submission

Following shoulder surgery performed in June 2026 while in custody, Galvão's defense submitted a medical report to the Third Court for Crimes Against Children and Adolescents in São Paulo, seeking a transfer from prison to house arrest. The document was allegedly signed by physiotherapist Sergio Duarte Louveira and outlined a ten-week post-surgical care plan requiring forty physiotherapy sessions, scheduled Monday through Thursday from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm. The defense submitted photographs of the treatment plan and equipment, arguing that these sessions could only be carried out outside the prison environment.

The special Civil Police prison where Galvão was held had already authorized a physiotherapist to enter the facility to provide treatment but stated it lacked the logistical resources to transport him to an outside clinic forty times. The defense cited that limitation as the basis for the house arrest request.

The Report Unravels

The bid collapsed when Louveira himself contacted the Civil Police, represented by attorneys, and filed his own police report. Louveira stated that he had never said or written that Galvão would need to attend his clinic, nor that clinic attendance would be the only available form of treatment. According to Louveira, the report he actually authored stated the opposite: that treatment should be carried out by a qualified professional in closed sessions, and that he does not provide home treatment or treatment within a prison setting. Louveira disclosed that he had been contacted by Galvão's mother and by Galvão's wife, Debora Galvão.

Further scrutiny of the defense's submission revealed an additional conflict of interest. Documents filed by the attorney representing the reporting athlete indicated that the clinic proposed for Galvão's physiotherapy treatment shares the exact same address as Galvão Saúde e Performance, a company based in Jundiaí, in the interior of São Paulo state, co-owned by Galvão and his wife. Court documents also included photographs suggesting the physiotherapist has a close personal relationship with Galvão and his family.

The court denied the house arrest request. As reported on August 27, 2026, Galvão had been imprisoned for nearly four months. His first criminal hearing is scheduled for October 20, 2026.