Brazil’s Federal Police indicted 13 people linked to investment funds, brokerages and fintechs, alleging they helped move proceeds from fuel-sector crimes and tax evasion through the financial system. Police concluded Operação Quasar on Wednesday, September 30, 2026. The case now rests with the Federal Prosecution Service, which must decide whether to file formal charges, order more investigation or archive it.
How the Money Moved
Police said the 13 assisted a scheme run 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 fleeing before an August 2025 operation.
The inquiry grew out of Operação Carbono Oculto, a wider investigation into the PCC’s alleged move into the fuel trade and financial system. Investigators described a chain from fuel imports through production and distribution to gas-station sales, where, they said, methanol was used to adulterate fuel.
Police said illicit cash entered fintechs and investment funds, then went toward buying companies, property and luxury goods. During 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.
Investigators said the structure hid the money’s true owners and gave a legal appearance to assets built by organized crime. Fund companies, they said, participated in that structure. Police haven’t confirmed the total sums moved by the people indicted or provided the full list of funds and companies involved.
The Investigation and Its Limits
Police cited messages, contracts, spreadsheets, forensic accounting and bank statements obtained under judicial authorization. The 13 named by police are 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.
No court had ruled on the merits of the police conclusions at publication, and the 13 people’s defense positions weren’t public. The prosecution service’s next decision will determine whether the accusations proceed as formal charges, return for further investigation or end in an archive. Police also hadn’t said whether more rounds of indictments were planned.
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.
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 indicated common control by the organization, police said.
Some indictees had appeared in earlier reporting about the collapsed Banco Master, but the Quasar indictment didn’t itself accuse them in connection with the 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. Those reported links came from earlier press investigations, not from the Quasar indictment.
A split between police and state-level investigations exposed a rivalry the previous year between President Lula’s federal government and Governor Tarcísio de Freitas. That dispute could resurface as prosecutors decide how far the financial-system charges will go.