Brazil police dismantle international money laundering gang

Brazil's Federal Police on Wednesday morning (April 26) launched an operation to dismantle a gang involved in money laundering, estate concealment, and illegal offshore banking with tentacles in at least five countries.

About 200 federal police officers served 103 court orders including 55 searches, 46 bench arrests, and two temporary detentions. Raids were launched mainly in the Federal District but also in Bahia, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás, Pará, Piauí, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Tocantins states.

According to police, the investigations began in August 2016 following an arrest in flagrante delicto at Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport in Brasília.

Investigators want to find out if gang members were involved in unauthorized foreign exchange transactions, under-the-counter purchases of high-end real estate, and illegal offshore banking. They used straw parties and forged official documents, especially birth certificates issued by notaries in remote towns in Brazil.

According to police, the “hard core” of the gang included owners of fuel stations, travel agencies, lottery shops, and other businesses, who were responsible for carrying out fraudulent real estate purchases for money laundering purposes. One transaction was reported by police to have been worth as much as $20.5 million.

The gang also used lawyers, accountants, notary clerks, public utility employees, and even a Federal Police employee.

In 2016, police raided locations linked to one of the members of the so-called “hard core”, and found documents leading to an offshore company that may have carried out transactions in excess of $5 billion.

The operation was dubbed Perfídia (“Treachery”) in a reference to the disloyal way members of the gang's “hard core” acted towards the country.

Translated by Mayra Borges