Second Girl Accuses Andre Galvao Of Inappropriate Behavior

Just days after Alexa Herse publicly accused Andre Galvao of inappropriate conduct and filed a report with local law enforcement, a second woman has come forward with her own account of similar experiences involving the Team Atos founder.

The second accuser, identified as Andressa Simas, shared her account in a detailed post on Instagram.

“I do this because I believe that situations like this should not be silenced, much less treated as something ‘normal,'” she wrote. “After everything I saw happen to me and to other girls, remaining silent would be disrespectful to myself, as a woman and as a human being.”

Simas describes a pattern of behavior in training sessions that closely mirrors what Herse previously alleged.

She says Galvao would regularly interrupt her training partnerships to ensure she was drilling with him specifically, always in no-gi sessions and always in back-take or mount positions.

“I felt uncomfortable and coerced because I could not refuse since he was ‘my professor,'” she explained.

The alleged conduct extended beyond the mats. Simas claims that the following week, she received messages through a temporary Instagram account containing a photo of her working out alongside comments about her body, and that Galvao told her his own wife was asleep at the time.

She also alleges that at his home, in the presence of his family, she was touched inappropriately without her consent. When she attempted to pull away, the behavior reportedly continued. She was also given a nickname of a s3xual nature that caused her immediate embarrassment.

One of the more significant elements of Simas’s account involves what she describes as an admission. She says a conversation took place between Galvao, his wife Angelica, and her then-boyfriend, from which she was excluded despite being the subject of the discussion.

“What was done to me was acknowledged, and there was also an apology to my then-boyfriend, although accompanied by justifications,” she wrote.

She also alleges that her training partner, who was the first to go public, was pressured to sign a document agreeing to delete her Instagram post, withdraw her police report, and stop speaking about the matter.

Screenshots she shared appear to show messages sent from Galvao to a her friend named Andy.

He wrote, “Andy, I recognize that I messed up badly with you and with Andressa. I disrespected you and that was sin and shame. I’m not going to justify myself. When I come back, I want to ask for forgiveness personally and take responsibility for everything with humility. I am taking real measures to change. Forgive me.”

In a separate message, he adds: “Andy, thank you for the message. I respect your attitude and your sincerity very much. And it was nothing inappropriate to talk to the professor, I understand totally. I recognize my mistake and want to talk to you and Andressa personally with humility, to hear you and also open my heart.”

Simas also addressed the legal dimension of her situation head-on, noting that when she attempted to file her own individual police report, she was advised by authorities to have it attached to the existing case opened by Herse.

She confirmed she was interviewed as part of that investigation approximately three months ago.

“Countries have different laws, and while in one, the report is sufficient, in another, this is merely a point of view,” she wrote. “But the truth is one and we all know that between a purple belt and a professor who is a multiple-time world champion, it’s not difficult to know where the rope breaks.”

Her account also touches on the social and professional pressure she says she faced after speaking to police. According to Simas, she encountered attempts to discredit her account, insults she says came from Galvao’s wife, and threats related to her visa status as a result of speaking with law enforcement.

The screenshots Simas shared also include a message exchange between Alexa Herse and Angelica Galvao, providing additional context to Herse’s earlier claim that she was silenced after reaching out.

In the exchange, Herse writes: “Professor, can I call you? I talked to the professor and got kind of anxious, wanted to talk to you, or then meet you just me and you.” The response is a single word: “No.”

In a subsequent message Herse writes: “I was very nervous and scared about everything, because even though I felt uncomfortable I knew that in this situation there is no good outcome. I was advised not to say anything and just try to distance myself from situations that made me uncomfortable, because they told me these things always end up weighing on the weaker side.”

Galvao has maintained through his February 1st statement that the allegations are false, pointing to cameras and staff present at the academy and attributing the situation to former employees with financial grievances. He has not publicly responded to Simas’s account or the screenshots she shared.

With a second formal account now public, pressure on both sport governing bodies and law enforcement to respond is growing, and Simas has made clear she is speaking not only for herself.

“After everything I saw happen to me and to other girls, remaining silent would be a disrespect to myself, as a woman and as a human being.”

Original images from Instagram post: