By Carlos Meneses
São Paulo, Brazil (EFE).- Far-right Senator Flávio Bolsonaro faces a complicated legal landscape following his defeat in the Brazilian presidential elections, with ongoing investigations against him for money laundering and other offenses.
The eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) will also lose his seat in the Senate in Feb. 2027, when the new legislature begins.
A lawyer by profession, Flávio gave up his parliamentary career to launch a presidential bid endorsed by his father, who is currently barred from public office, convicted, and under house arrest for plotting a coup d’état after losing his 2022 re-election bid to Lula.
Like his father, the son also lost in the runoff against the progressive leader (52% to 48%) and likewise refused to concede defeat at the ballot box.
As a result, 2027 will mark the first time since 2003 that Flávio will not hold public office.
Flávio brings more than twenty years of public service experience as a regional deputy in Rio de Janeiro (2003–2019) and as a senator (2019–2027), a period during which he has been embroiled in various scandals.
At 45 years old, he has been investigated or accused by authorities at several points, though none of the cases have gone to trial.
He currently faces two active investigations.
Flávio is a target of a Supreme Court probe into the alleged illegal financing of a movie about his father. Police found evidence linking him to corruption, money laundering, and tax evasion.
Suspicions focus on multi-million payments from Daniel Vorcaro, former owner of Banco Master and currently in pre-trial detention for massive financial fraud, allegedly intended to produce ‘Dark Horse’, a movie inspired by Jair’s life.
In several audio recordings, Flávio requested 134 million reais (26 million dollars) from the banker, whom he referred to as a «brother,» to fund the feature film.
According to authorities, Vorcaro paid nearly half the amount. However, police believe that money was funneled into US accounts tied to the Bolsonaro family for their personal benefit.
Flávio maintains that the negotiations with Vorcaro were entirely lawful.
On another front, just before the runoff election, the newspapers O Estado de S.Paulo and O Globo revealed that Flávio is under investigation by the Supreme Court in a second case involving alleged money laundering.
At the center of that case is Willer Tomaz, a lawyer and close friend of Flávio, identified as the operator of a corporate scheme involving suspicious financial transactions related to sports betting.
According to police reports cited by press outlets, Flávio was listed as a user with full access to a joint account with Tomaz, who is also under investigation for a corruption scheme involving improper deductions from millions of retirees’ pensions.
An electoral victory for Flávio would have halted both investigations, as sitting Brazilian heads of state cannot be held accountable during their term for acts committed prior to taking office.
Furthermore, most legal experts believe that had he assumed the presidency, these investigations could not even have proceeded toward filing eventual charges after leaving office, notes Luisa Ferreira, a law professor at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV).
The shadow of militia groups and a suspicious chocolate shop
In 2020, while his father was in power, prosecutors formally indicted Jair’s eldest son for criminal organization, embezzlement, money laundering, and misappropriation of funds.
The indictment alleged the hiring of friends, family members, and neighbors as «ghost employees» during his tenure as a state deputy in Rio, in order to pocket a portion of their salaries.
Prosecutors noted that this money was laundered through personal expenses, a chocolate shop, and cash real estate transactions, though the case was shelved after key evidence was annulled.
Flávio is also dogged by alleged ties to Rio’s paramilitary militias, groups run by corrupt police officers that control entire neighborhoods through extortion and violence.
Some of the «ghost staff» in Flávio’s office were relatives of militia members, including Adriano da Nóbrega, a notorious hitman killed in a police shootout in 2020. EFE
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