Lawyer’s aide: Brazilian family has agreed to give up legal fight, hand over boy to US father

Aide: Brazilian family giving up fight for US boy

RIO DE JANEIRO — David Goldman’s bitter five-year battle to regain custody of his son neared conclusion Wednesday, when the child’s Brazilian family halted its legal efforts as a court-ordered deadline for delivering the boy loomed.

Goldman has said repeatedly that until he is on a plane heading to the U.S. with 9-year-old Sean at his side, he would not feel relief. But with a court ordering the boy’s handover Thursday morning at the U.S. Consulate, the end appeared to be in sight.

Goldman’s fight against a powerful family of Rio de Janeiro lawyers — a David vs. Goliath matchup in a nation where the wealthy are used to coming out on top — shifted in recent months, legally and among ordinary Brazilians.

The case was once largely viewed through a nationalistic lens. But with Goldman’s persistent fighting it has come to be seen on talk shows and in neighborhood bars as a dad simply trying to be with his son.

Which is how Goldman has always framed it.

“Sean is my family, Sean is my son. It is our right to be together, not just a rule of law, not just a treaty, not he’s Brazilian, not he’s American, not he’s from anywhere. He’s my son and I should be able to raise my son and he should know his dad,” Goldman said this week.

Goldman, of Tinton Falls, N.J., won a big legal victory late Tuesday when Brazil’s chief justice upheld a lower court’s ruling that ordered Sean returned to him. Sean has lived in Brazil since Goldman’s ex-wife, Bruna Bianchi, took him to her native country for what was supposed to be a two-week vacation in 2004. Last year she died in childbirth.

Sean’s stepfather, Joao Paulo Lins e Silva, has continued the fight, winning temporary custody in Brazil of the boy. He looked prepared to keep him in the family’s massive compound with multiple buildings surrounded by tropical trees, a large wall and gate where expensive SUVs pass through and security guards keep 24-hour watch.

Lins e Silva, a prominent divorce attorney in his father’s family law firm, used all legal means available to keep the boy in Brazil. Despite numerous court rulings in favor of Goldman, Lins e Silva continuously found an appeal route that delayed a handover.

But those court battles are now over.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey who has strongly supported Goldman for a year and is in Brazil with him, said Goldman’s lawyers believe Brazil’s federal police are authorized to remove the child from the family if the court deadline is not met. He also said the international police agency Interpol has been notified to make sure Sean is not spirited out of the country by his Brazilian relatives.

Goldman declined to comment Wednesday, as did the Brazilian family’s attorney, Sergio Tostes, who referred all questions to his office.

An aide for Tostes said the legal fight was over.

“It is certain the family will not pursue any more legal channels,” the aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the matter.

Despite that and a federal court order that the boy be handed over by 9 a.m. (6 a.m. EST; 1100 GMT) Thursday, Smith said Goldman remains cautious.

“David is very guarded in his emotions because he had so many disappointments in his past, but he does believe that the 9 a.m. deadline is relatively firm,” Smith said. “He’s optimistic. He can’t wait to see his son and to be together for the rest of their lives.”

Goldman has seen his son only twice in the five years since his then-wife took the child to visit her family in Brazil, then informed him she wanted a divorce. After a Brazilian court granted the divorce, a New Jersey court awarded Goldman custody of his son.

In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said a U.S. passport had been issued for Sean and delivered to his father in Brazil.

“Many people have been up through the night to provide support for the Goldman family, to maintain contact with the Brazilian government as we hopefully come to the end of this process,” Crowley told reporters. “We look forward to the reuniting of Sean Goldman with his father, David.”

Silvana Bianchi, Sean’s maternal grandmother, blamed international pressure — in particular, the U.S. Senate’s delay in renewing a trade bill worth $2.75 billion a year to Brazil — for losing her grandson.

She lodged an appeal before the Supreme Court last week, petitioning that the boy’s own testimony about where he wanted to live be heard. That was denied Tuesday by Brazil’s chief justice Gilmar Mendes.

“He is really sad, he doesn’t want to go,” she told the Estado de S. Paulo newspaper. “Gilmar Mendes stripped him of his right to expression, to open his mouth and say he doesn’t want to go. In his own country, he’s not respected. Here, he’s under a gag rule.”

Goldman has contended, however, that his son wants to return with him and that he has been under undue pressure from his Brazilian family for the past five years.

Christopher Schmidt, a St. Louis-based attorney with Bryan Cave LLP, said the slow-moving Brazil court system is what failed in this case.

“The critical lesson from this tragic story is to not permit these child abduction cases to spiral into protracted custody disputes, as happened in Brazil,” he said. “While Brazil finally made the right decision, Brazil breached its fundamental obligation to decide the abduction case expeditiously.”

For Smith, the time had simply come for Goldman and his son to go home.

“David and his team are encouraged that the nightmare is coming to an end,” Smith said. “No more delays. It’s time to do this.”

Associated Press Writers Geoff Mulvihill in Mount Laurel, N.J.; Tales Azzoni in Sao Paulo; and AP Television News producer Flora Charner and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.