Hidden Credit Operation: film backer linked to Bolsonaro film connected to organised crime
Finance Minister Durigan states that businessman Antônio Carlos Freixo Júnior received money from organised crime and from Banco Master. He is a backer of the film "Dark Horse", about former president Bolsonaro.
Backer of "Dark Horse" is target of operation for money laundering
Finance Minister Dario Durigan stated on Thursday, 24th, that Antônio Carlos Freixo Júnior, known as "Mineiro" and controller of Entre Investimentos, allegedly received funds from both organised crime and from Banco Master, belonging to Daniel Vorcaro. According to reporting by veja.abril.com.br, Freixo is one of the backers of the film "Dark Horse", a production about former president Jair Bolsonaro, and is among those targeted by the Hidden Credit Operation, launched on this date by the Federal Revenue Service in conjunction with other authorities.
"We are talking about an administrator of a business group, which is the Entre Group, which received money from both Master and organised crime within the same account. And this money was used to conceal assets, to launder money, to corrupt," Durigan declared to journalists. The minister classified Entre as a "key entity" in the scheme under investigation.
Fintechs and sugar mill at centre of scheme
According to investigations, fintechs allegedly used their structure to conceal the true owners of a sugar and ethanol mill. Formally, the company would be registered in apparently independent investment funds. Investigators, however, concluded that economic control remained with members of the group already examined in the Hidden Carbon Operation.
The strategy allegedly created an artificial separation between the formal ownership of the companies and who actually conducted the business. With funds and intermediary companies in the structure, authorities sought to reconstruct the path of money and identify the final beneficiaries.
One of the businesses under scrutiny involves approximately 370 million reais in credit rights from the mill. Financial analysis indicated that a substantial part of the funds used to acquire the shares would have come from funds controlled by the investigated group itself — making money circulate among structures related to the same individuals to simulate legitimate operations.
Another mechanism identified involves around 100 million reais used to facilitate the acquisition of a fuel distributor. The amounts allegedly passed rapidly through accounts linked to three companies before reaching the mill.
The transactions allegedly made use of so-called "bucket accounts", administered by fintechs — a structure that allows moving funds through accounts controlled by financial institutions, inserting an additional layer between the money and its beneficiaries.
Plea bargain and remittances abroad
In addition to being a target of the Hidden Credit Operation, Freixo reached a plea bargain agreement with the Federal Attorney General's Office in the context of investigations relating to Banco Master. The plea bargain was constructed on the basis of his connection with banker Daniel Vorcaro.
According to the account presented by the businessman himself to investigators, Entre Investimentos would have functioned as an arm of the structure used by Vorcaro to make payments to politicians and pass funds to intermediaries. Freixo also reported having made remittances abroad and obtained large quantities of cash in notes, delivered in suitcases to people indicated by the banker.
Film "Dark Horse" and the Bolsonaros
It is in this context that the financing of the film "Dark Horse" emerges. According to a document drawn up by the Federal Police based on analysis of Vorcaro's mobile phones, Entre Investimentos allegedly made, on the banker's orders, international remittances to the Havengate Development Fund LP — an American fund administered by Paulo Calixto, a lawyer linked to Eduardo Bolsonaro. The amounts identified by the Federal Police totalled 12.3 million dollars, associated with financing of the film production.
On Vorcaro's mobile phone, investigators also found a document concerning financing of the project, which originally envisaged 24 million dollars — equivalent to around 134 million reais at the time — divided into 14 instalments.
In May this year, audio emerged in which senator Flávio Bolsonaro asks Vorcaro for financial support to make the film possible and demands regularity of payments. Flávio confirmed the authenticity of the recording.
In a report produced in early September, the Federal Police stated that Flávio appeared not only indirectly in the communications analysed. According to investigators, he maintained direct contact with Vorcaro regarding financing of the production, including demands relating to payments, meetings and monitoring of filming.
Source: Google News BR — Crime