Flávio Bolsonaro reportedly fled to the US, with Brazilian authorities investigating alleged financial crimes linked to betting companies.
Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Bolsonaro, who suffered defeat in the presidential election last weekend, to hand over his passports (both civilian and diplomatic).
Furthermore, he prohibited the senator from leaving the country. The measures were taken at the request of the Federal Police as part of investigations into crimes such as money laundering and tax evasion.
Allegedly, Bolsonaro had a hidden partnership in betting houses used for financial crimes with lawyer Willer Tomaz, who is also under investigation.
This Tuesday (27), Bolsonaro’s allies were informed that the candidate fled and is on his way to the US.
What is Bolsonaro accused of?
According to the investigations, both Bolsonaro and Willer were master users of an account at Santander Bank. They both denied this information, but the Federal Police identified a message from the lawyer asking the bank to remove Bolsonaro from the master user credentials.
Willer is the majority shareholder of Cathedral Holdings, a company based in Portugal. He is the sole shareholder of Rede Loto, a company that controls BestBet and two other licensed brands in Rio de Janeiro. A report in Piauí magazine revealed that Flávio was a silent partner in the betting companies.
The betting site operated for almost two years and had revenue of just over BRL360,000 ($67,275). The company paid the Rio de Janeiro state licence fee of BRL5 million, did not run advertising campaigns or any commercial activity. At the same time, Willer moved more than BRL10 billion in sports bets on Blaze. He was identified by the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets (SPA) as the biggest gambler in Brazil.
Bolsonaro is also accused by the Federal Police of financial crimes related to financing the production of a film about the life of his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of an attempted coup.
Reports indicate escape
According to UOL, allies of the defeated candidate were informed that he was on a flight to the United States. A US source close to the Trump administration and Bolsonaro’s family stated that they are “aware of the departure.” Officially, the State Department has not commented. But according to the Brazilian press, the Trump administration will grant asylum to the PL senator.
Given the information released since early morning and the fact that the defeated candidate had not handed over his passports by 11am on Tuesday, the Federal Police cancelled them and communicated the administrative action to Minister Alexandre de Moraes.
The first reports about the escape were released by the Argentinian news website Infobae. It indicated that the senator had crossed the border into Argentina with his ID card and was then planning to fly from Puerto Iguazú to the United States.
He reportedly crossed the Tancredo Neves bridge on foot, which connects Foz do Iguaçu (Paraná) to Puerto Iguazú (Misiones-Argentina). The plane remained at the airport and did not take off because one person was still missing from the plane. It is unknown who the missing passenger was or how they intend to fly to the USA, as reported by UOL. There was no record of the senator leaving Brazil through legal channels. On the eve of the election, his brother Eduardo, who also fled to the USA, said that Flávio should go to the USA if he lost the election.
Other sources indicated that he may have left Brazil via Venezuela.
Loss of the election
The senator was already under investigation and, while still in parliament, would have privileged jurisdiction, meaning the investigations would continue in the STF. The hope was to win the election so the investigations would stop. The Brazilian Constitution does not allow presidents to be prosecuted for crimes committed outside of their term.
Having been defeated by Lula, after the end of his term as senator, the cases will remain in the STF. A 2025 court decision established that crimes committed during the exercise of office or related to the functions performed by authorities remain under the jurisdiction of the STF.