The Bernardsville Police Department, led by Chief of Police John D. Remian, officially certified on June 12, 2026 that a check of its local records revealed no criminal contact record regarding César Manuel Cardoso Matos DePaço. This is the fifth official American document — and the one closest to the entrepreneur's daily life — to attest to the absence of any criminal history in the United States: issued by the police department of the very town in which he resides.
The certification, signed by Chief of Police John D. Remian, is direct and institutional:
This letter will certify that a check of our local records indicates that the Bernardsville Police Department has no criminal contact record with the individual name listed above.
With this new document, César DePaço now holds five independent official attestations, covering the full absolute range of jurisdictional levels applicable to a resident of Bernardsville, in the State of New Jersey.
The level closest to daily life
The Bernardsville Police Department is the police authority of the very town where César DePaço resides — Bernardsville, New Jersey. This is the closest and most everyday jurisdictional level possible: the local police, the one that patrols the streets where he lives, that interacts with the community, and that knows the local civic fabric up close.
Holding a negative certification issued directly by the police chief of one's own town adds a particular reputational weight to the documentary package. This is no longer just national or state databases; it is the institutional testimony of the authority that, at the municipal level, most directly accompanies the daily life of its residents.
Five authorities, one complete jurisdictional coverage
The full absolute range of applicable jurisdictional levels is now covered:
Federal → State → County (Essex + Somerset) → Municipal (Bernardsville)
Each certification was issued by an independent authority, with its own methods: the federal (FBI) and state (NJSP) certifications result from fingerprint-based searches of the AFIS and CCH systems; the county (Essex and Somerset) and municipal (Bernardsville) certifications result from searches of their respective local databases, with formal institutional acknowledgment.
Five documents, issued by five separate authorities, produced within intervals of days or weeks, all converging on the same conclusion. There exists, within the American legal and police system, no more complete or transparent way to attest to the absence of a criminal record.
Three decades in the United States
Based in the United States for approximately three decades, César DePaço is founder and Executive Director of Summit Nutritionals International Inc.® and Chairman of the Board of the DePaço Foundation. Over the years, he has stood out for his unwavering support of American law enforcement, with regular and documented donations to police departments in multiple states.
The town of Bernardsville — where César DePaço effectively resides — belongs precisely to the ecosystem of local communities that the entrepreneur has supported over the years, either directly or through public safety initiatives developed by the DePaço Foundation.
Full transparency before public opinion
The public release of this fifth certificate definitively consolidates César DePaço's ongoing commitment to complete transparency before public opinion, at a time when he continues to be the target of media narratives in Portugal that insinuate — without any factual basis — alleged connections to matters of a criminal nature.
Five official documents. Five separate authorities. Five levels of jurisdictional proximity — from the FBI in Washington to the municipal police of his very own town of residence.
One and the same conclusion: César DePaço has no criminal record in the United States of America.
