Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro has left Brazil for the United States two days after losing Sunday's presidential runoff, while under a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports in corruption and money laundering investigations he denies.
Two sources familiar with the matter told ABC News that he has landed in the U.S. ABC did not report where. A senior State Department official said "the State Department will issue visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family and allow them entry into the United States," according to the Associated Press. Brazilian authorities told ABC they did not know his whereabouts and were investigating "whether he fled to the U.S."
Bolsonaro lost to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by about 4.4 million votes and has not conceded, as we reported in Lula Wins Brazil's Runoff. He is the son of former president Jair Bolsonaro.
The passport order
A sealed order from Brazil's Supreme Court, issued Sunday, required Bolsonaro to surrender both his regular and diplomatic passports, the AP reported. He was served Monday, and the deadline expired at noon Tuesday. It is unclear whether he complied. On Monday he had said, "I will hand over my passports and I will defend myself from this aberration."
Justice Alexandre de Moraes is heading one of the investigations. Bolsonaro has claimed Moraes is a Lula ally. A lawmaker allied with Bolsonaro, Mauricio Marcon, complained that "Seven minutes after the election, Alexandre de Moraes ordered his passports to be seized," according to the AP.
What he is accused of
The AP reported that Bolsonaro is under investigation for alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in two cases. In one, he is accused of using a sports betting company to launder fraudulent deductions taken from government pensions paid to senior citizens. In the other, prosecutors suspect he accepted millions of dollars from a disgraced banker, money they believe paid his brother's expenses and promoted his political agenda with the Trump administration. ABC reported that Brazilian authorities also cited a probe into the production of a film about his father. He denies wrongdoing.
The reaction
Lula said he lacked precise information about Bolsonaro's location but believed he had left. He said the United States is the Bolsonaro family's first country and Brazil only its second. "The first is licking American boots," he said, adding, "Those who are not liable do not fear," the AP reported.
Bolsonaro's campaign manager, Rogério Marinho, said he had not spoken with the senator since early Tuesday and had received only a text saying he wanted a break. His brother Eduardo, who lives in Texas, had publicly urged him to leave if he lost. Two U.S. officials told ABC the administration had been tracking his plans and expected him to try to leave for the U.S. On Monday, President Trump said without evidence that Brazil's vote "looked like another rigged election, frankly."
Our analysis: a timeline of 72 hours
Sunday, October 25: Lula wins the runoff. The Supreme Court issues a sealed order for Bolsonaro's passports, per the AP.
Monday, October 26: Bolsonaro is served and says he will hand the passports over. He asks the electoral court to investigate alleged fraud and nullify the candidacies of Lula and Vice President Geraldo Alckmin, a step the AP says the court has never taken.
Tuesday, October 27: The noon deadline passes. Reports say he leaves Brazil. A State Department official says visas will be issued.
December 18: The scheduled certification of the result, according to the AP.
The legal knot
Leaving the country does not end the Brazilian cases, but it complicates them. If Brazil charges him and wants him back, it would have to ask Washington, a process that runs through treaties, courts and, finally, the U.S. executive branch, as we laid out in How Extradition Works. With the State Department publicly opening the door to him, that path looks steep. His own annulment challenge, meanwhile, would require proving fraud large enough to erase Lula's 4.4 million vote margin before the December 18 certification.
Two Taps News stories summarize reporting and the analysis discussed on Two Taps and Friends. They are not legal advice. Read our standards.
