César Manuel Cardoso Matos do Paço, better known in the United States as Caesar DePaço, has built a business career around Summit Nutritionals International, a New Jersey company that sells bulk chondroitin sulfate to the nutraceutical and food industries. Now 60, DePaço remains active in the company and has expanded his public profile well beyond supplements. But behind the corporate success is a complicated trail of litigation, political controversy, police searches and disputes over what may be published about him.
The most important starting point is a 2015 Iowa Supreme Court case involving Summit Nutritionals. The dispute began when Sioux Pharm, an Iowa company that manufactured chondroitin sulfate, sued Summit and other defendants over alleged unfair competition and related claims involving chondroitin sulfate. Sioux Pharm alleged that products were diluted while being represented as meeting a particular purity level. Those claims were allegations by the plaintiff, not findings that Summit had committed fraud or sold adulterated products.
What made the case unusual was Summit’s website. At the time, the site identified a Sioux Center, Iowa, location as a Summit manufacturing facility. Court records established that the facility was actually owned and operated by Eagle Laboratories, an Iowa company that supplied chondroitin sulfate to Summit. Summit acknowledged that it had listed the Iowa facility to show customers where its product originated.
Summit argued that Iowa courts had no personal jurisdiction over the New Jersey company. The Iowa Supreme Court rejected part of the lower court’s reasoning but nevertheless allowed the case to proceed. The justices said the website statement alone did not establish general jurisdiction because Summit was not essentially “at home” in Iowa. However, the court found that the company’s overall contacts with Iowa—including its supply relationship with Eagle Laboratories, its website representation, a visit by its president to the facility and other contacts tied to the dispute were sufficient for specific jurisdiction.
That distinction matters. The Iowa Supreme Court did not convict Summit, find it guilty of fraud or determine that it had adulterated chondroitin sulfate. It decided a procedural question about whether an Iowa court could exercise authority over the company in that particular dispute.
There was another significant development later that year. On October 2, 2015, Sioux Pharm and Sioux Biochemical issued a written “Withdrawal of Claims and Retraction of Allegations.” The document states that the companies withdrew all claims against Summit and retracted every allegation against it in the lawsuit and related proceedings. It also says the settlement did not require Summit to pay any amount or change its business practices and that no adverse finding or determination had been made against Summit by a court or government agency. That settlement document is crucial context whenever the Iowa litigation is described today.
A separate regulatory issue involving Summit emerged in 2017, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued the company a warning letter following inspections of its facility. The agency cited several labeling and documentation concerns, including a collagen product that inspectors said was actually hydrolyzed gelatin and labeling that identified the product as being made in the United States despite the underlying manufacturer’s documentation identifying China as its origin. The FDA also raised concerns about required safety documentation and net-quantity declarations. The warning letter called for corrective action and cautioned that continued violations could lead to further enforcement.
Summit itself has continued operating. Its current website identifies its headquarters in Lebanon, New Jersey, and lists operations or branches in Florida, Iowa, Portugal, the Netherlands and the Caribbean. The company says it was established in 2001 and specializes in bulk chondroitin sulfate, including its Droi-Kon product. Florida corporate records list Summit Nutritionals International Inc. as active and identify DePaço as its CEO and registered agent. In 2026, the company continues to publish material identifying DePaço as its founder, CEO and principal.
DePaço’s public biography says he was born in the Azores on September 21, 1965, moved to the United States in 1994 and entered the supplement business before creating Summit Nutritionals International in 2001. He has also used the English-language name Caesar DePaço. His wife, Deanna Padovani-DePaço, is identified by the company as president of Summit Nutritionals, while public company material describes the couple as proprietors of the business.
The controversy surrounding DePaço, however, extends far beyond the Iowa litigation. In Portugal and Cabo Verde, his political and diplomatic connections became the subject of extensive reporting. DePaço served as Portugal’s honorary consul in Florida from 2014 until 2020, when he resigned. He was subsequently appointed honorary consul of Cabo Verde in Florida. That appointment became controversial after Portuguese media reported on his political donations and his relationship with Portugal’s Chega party.
Reports by SIC and other Portuguese media identified DePaço as a donor to Chega. Public reporting put the donations at approximately €10,480.50, an amount described as the legal maximum for an individual donor at the time. DePaço has disputed descriptions portraying him as Chega’s “largest financier.” In a 2024 interview with Visão, he said he had made a legal donation and argued that the characterization of him as the party’s biggest financier was false. He also said he had supported other Portuguese political parties.
The controversy had diplomatic consequences in Cabo Verde. Luís Filipe Tavares, who had appointed DePaço honorary consul, resigned in January 2021 amid the controversy. Portuguese and Cabo Verdean reporting subsequently examined claims surrounding an expensive Mercedes and whether a benefit had been provided in connection with DePaço’s appointment. Cabo Verdean authorities investigated the matter, and reporting on the eventual decision said the case was archived for lack of sufficient evidence. DePaço has consistently denied wrongdoing.
The story did not disappear. In October 2023, Portugal’s Polícia Judiciária carried out searches at the Portuguese branch of Summit Nutritionals. Portuguese reporting said investigators were examining financial movements and possible corruption and money-laundering issues connected to the broader Cabo Verde matter. The searches were an investigative step, not a conviction. DePaço told the media that he did not know the reason for the search when it occurred and said he was prepared to cooperate.
The status of that Portuguese investigation requires careful wording. In a later interview published on his own website, DePaço said the October 10, 2023 search occurred as part of a Public Prosecutor’s inquiry and that he had cooperated, while insisting that he had never been charged or convicted. He described the matter as still unresolved. Publicly available sources reviewed for this report did not establish a criminal conviction against DePaço arising from those searches.
Another long-running legal battle has involved Wikipedia. DePaço sued the Wikimedia Foundation and sought removal of material he considered false or defamatory. Portuguese courts ultimately ordered the removal of certain material and the identification of contributors connected to the disputed pages. In 2025, the Portuguese Constitutional Court rejected Wikimedia’s procedural challenge, after which Wikimedia said it complied with the orders. The Wikimedia Foundation has characterized the litigation as a strategic lawsuit against public participation and said it intended to take the dispute to the European Court of Human Rights. DePaço, for his part, says the material damaged his reputation and that the court process vindicated his position.
The dispute is especially notable because the contested material included references to allegations about events dating back decades. A 2023 Lisbon Court of Appeal ruling reproduced details concerning historical allegations and court proceedings involving DePaço, while also recording his denial and his lawyer’s position. The court ordered certain material removed from Wikipedia. That order should not be confused with a criminal conviction establishing the underlying allegations as true.
There have also been disputes involving DePaço’s business associates. In a 2024 Visão interview, he discussed his break with José Lourenço, a former Chega official and former associate. DePaço said Lourenço had begun placing political interests ahead of company interests, a characterization Lourenço has disputed in other public accounts. The relationship subsequently became the subject of competing allegations and legal disputes in Portugal and Brazil.
Despite the controversies, DePaço’s business and public activities have continued. Summit Nutritionals currently presents itself as a U.S. manufacturer of chondroitin sulfate and promotes its work with police K-9 programs and other charitable causes. The company and DePaço Foundation have publicized donations to law-enforcement agencies and other organizations. In 2026, DePaço also became a significant new figure in Portuguese media ownership: Global Media Group announced that he would take a 20 percent stake through a capital increase. The group owns the Diário de Notícias and other media assets, and DePaço said he intended to support journalism while respecting editorial independence.
That new investment gives the older controversies fresh relevance. DePaço is no longer simply a supplement entrepreneur with a disputed case in an Iowa court. He is an international businessman with operations spanning multiple jurisdictions, a history of political donations, former diplomatic roles, a record of litigation over reputation, and a newly announced stake in a major Portuguese media group.
Yet the public record also demonstrates why precision matters. There is no basis in the Iowa Supreme Court decision for calling Summit Nutritionals guilty of fraud. The company was not convicted in that case, and the plaintiff later withdrew and retracted its claims against Summit. Likewise, the 2023 Portuguese police searches establish that authorities were investigating matters; they do not establish that DePaço committed corruption or money laundering. The political donations establish financial support, but not criminal conduct. And the Wikipedia litigation establishes that Portuguese courts ordered certain material removed; it does not independently prove that every disputed allegation about DePaço was false or that every criticism of him was unlawful.
The broader story is therefore less about a single proven financial crime than about the unusually wide footprint of a businessman whose commercial, political, diplomatic and media interests have repeatedly intersected with legal disputes. Summit Nutritionals remains active, DePaço remains its chief executive, and his influence has expanded into Portuguese media ownership. At the same time, parts of his public record remain contested or tied to proceedings whose legal status must be described carefully. For consumers, investors, business partners and readers, that distinction is important: allegations can trigger investigations and lawsuits, but only findings, judgments and verified records establish what ultimately happened.
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