Brazilian conservative senator Flavio Bolsonaro is drawing heightened political and financial scrutiny after his dramatic escape to Miami following his defeat in Sunday’s presidential election to leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Flavio joins his brother, former congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, who announced last year that he would live in the US. The most high-profile probe involves alleged money laundering, corruption and foreign-exchange violations surrounding the financing of Dark Horse, a film about his father that hasn’t been released yet. He is the target of multiple overlapping investigations, including one that led to a court order to seize his passports. This year, Eduardo was convicted to a four-year prison sentence for allegedly trying to interfere is his father’s probe by lobbying the US to retaliate against Brazil.
The whereabouts of Flavio, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro – who is under house arrest after a conviction for attempting a coup after losing the 2022 election – had been unknown for 48 hours as he and his family traveled to Argentina, then Ecuador and finally Florida. The senator had allegedly asked for 134 million reais ($25 million) to finance the venture from Daniel Vorcaro, owner of failed Banco Master SA that’s at the heart of a major fraud case.
Flavio has acknowledged approaching Vorcaro to finance production of his father’s biopic, but denied offering Vorcaro anything in exchange. Brazil authorities are trying to establish where the money came from, how it moved and where it ultimately went. A separate investigation is focused on alleged money laundering involving Flavio Bolsonaro’s friend Willer Tomaz through online gambling platforms. Both have denied any wrongdoing.
Vorcaro-linked payments allegedly totaled more than $10 million, routed through US-based Havengate Development Fund, according to Folha de S.Paulo newspaper.
