Brazil’s Federal Police have sent a new suspected money-laundering inquiry involving Senator and presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro to the Supreme Federal Court, adding to a separate case already pending before the court. Justice Alexandre de Moraes was selected to oversee the new proceeding, which arose from an investigation in Rio Grande do Sul into digital-payment companies and sports-betting activity.¹

Accounts from both political perspectives describe broadly the same investigative trail: police examined data recovered from lawyer Willer Tomaz’s cloud storage and identified contacts and apparent links to Bolsonaro. Investigators cited records of meetings and travel payments, personal documents belonging to the senator, and a bank account on which Bolsonaro was listed as a “master user.” They also said an account tied to Tomaz moved about 130 million reais between March and May 2025, requiring further scrutiny of the money’s source and destination.²

The key divide is over what those findings signify. The reporting on the right emphasizes that the inquiry remains at an early stage and that investigators still need to deepen their financial analysis. It also notes that Bolsonaro has previously denied criminal conduct and described Tomaz as a personal friend.¹

Bolsonaro’s campaign goes further, rejecting the premise that friendship establishes wrongdoing. In a statement reproduced by CartaCapital, it said the relationship between the two men was limited to “friendship between the families,” and called any suggestion of irregularity “mere speculation.”² The campaign also denied that Bolsonaro ever held an account with Tomaz or any of his companies as a “master user,” calling such claims false.

It argued that the allegations had surfaced “in the middle of the electoral period” for the sole purpose of spreading “Fake News.”² The inquiry does not itself establish guilt; it places the police findings before the Supreme Court, where Bolsonaro has jurisdiction as a senator.