Brazil’s Federal Police indicted 13 people linked to investment funds, brokerages and fintechs, accusing them of helping the PCC crime gang move into the financial system. The Operação Quasar inquiry closed Wednesday, September 30, 2026. The accusations now pass to the Federal Prosecution Service, which must decide whether to file formal charges, order more investigation or archive the case. No court has ruled on the police conclusions.
The 13 face accusations of criminal organisation, money laundering and fraudulent management. Their defense positions weren’t public at the time of publication. An indictment isn’t a court finding. Police say their evidence included messages, contracts, spreadsheets, forensic accounting and bank statements obtained under judicial authorization.
Who Controls the Financial Machinery
Police say the indictees assisted a scheme managed by businessmen Mohamad Hussein Mourad, known as “Primo,” and Roberto Augusto Leme da Silva, known as “Beto Louco.” Both had been fugitives since 2025 and were among eight targets placed on Interpol’s red diffusion list after they fled before an August 2025 operation.
The inquiry grew out of Operação Carbono Oculto, which examined the PCC’s movement into the fuel trade and financial system. Police described a chain from fuel imports through production and distribution to gas-station sales, with fuel adulterated using methanol along the way. They said illicit cash entered fintechs and investment funds, then went toward buying companies, property and luxury goods.
In the related “Tank” investigation, police estimated that the stations analyzed alone received at least R$133.8 million, about US$25.6 million, in divided deposits. Large transfers among stations belonging to different corporate groups, police said, indicated the organization controlled them in common. These figures and conclusions come from police, not a court ruling on the merits.
A Legal Appearance for Illicit Money
In the Quasar phase, investigators said proceeds from tax evasion and fuel-sector crimes entered the financial system and moved through accounts and funds. They attributed the illegalities to the economic group formed by Aster Petróleo and Copape Produtos de Petróleo. According to investigators, the structure concealed the money’s true owners and gave assets built by organized crime a legal appearance, while fund companies took part in the structure.
Operação Carbono Oculto began in August 2025. Authorities described it as the largest operation ever conducted against organized crime’s infiltration of Brazil’s formal economy. About 1,400 agents executed around 200 search warrants against roughly 350 targets in eight states, including fund managers and companies on Avenida Faria Lima, São Paulo’s financial hub. The operation shows how far the investigation reached into the formal economy. It doesn’t establish the guilt of each person or company under scrutiny.
What the Indictment Does—and Doesn’t—Say
Police named Artur Martins de Figueiredo, Caio Henrique Hyppolito Galvani, Camila Cristina de Moura Silva, Danilo Augusto Tonin Elena, João Carlos Falbo Mansur, João Eduardo Gomes Santiago, Luis Fernando de Almeida, Luiz Felipe Sousa Leão Volani, Marcelo Dias de Moraes, Paula Rios Borges, Ramon Pessoa Dantas, Rogério Garcia Peres and Silvano Gersztel.
Some had appeared in earlier reporting about the collapsed Banco Master, but this indictment didn’t accuse them in connection with that bank. Valor Econômico reported the previous year that Artur Martins de Figueiredo, a director at Prime Aviation and linked to the managers Trustee and Banvox, had been named in the infiltration investigation. João Carlos Falbo Mansur founded Reag Investimentos, a firm investigated over funds allegedly used to inflate Banco Master’s assets. Earlier press investigations, not the Quasar indictment, reported links between individual indictees and Banco Master-related funds.
The division between police and state-level investigations the previous year exposed a rivalry for prominence between President Lula’s federal government and Governor Tarcísio de Freitas. The dispute could resurface as prosecutors decide how far the financial-system charges will go. Police haven’t confirmed the total sums moved by those indicted, the full list of funds and companies in the structure or whether more indictment rounds are planned.