Brazil Seizes Passports of Flavio Bolsonaro in Money Laundering Probe

Brazil's Supreme Court has ordered police to confiscate the passports of Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of jailed former President Jair Bolsonaro, as part of a criminal investigation into an alleged money laundering scheme.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes issued the ruling, which became public on Monday. Bolsonaro is being investigated for alleged links to a Brazilian lawyer, Willer Tomaz, accused of laundering more than $1 billion through a fraud scheme, according to The New York Times.

Bolsonaro, who has characterized the investigation as political persecution, stated in a social media video on Monday that the seizure of his travel documents was an attempt to intimidate him following his loss in the recent presidential election. He lost the election to incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

In the video, the right-wing senator said he would seek to have Lula’s ticket disqualified, citing alleged disinformation and "vote buying." He also stated his intention to organize the opposition in Congress against Lula’s government. "I wasn’t the one who lost," Bolsonaro said. "The system won."

Donald Trump, an ally of the Bolsonaros, commented on Monday that the election appeared "rigged," though he did not provide evidence for his claim. "I just think it had a very bad look, the election, the ​way it was tabulated,” Trump added. “The extension given was very strange.” Brazil’s Vice President Geraldo Alckmin called Trump’s claims "completely wrong."

The Supreme Court had granted a two-hour extension to voting on Sunday, citing transport issues raised by Lula’s campaign. Bolsonaro’s campaign had separately requested an extension due to heavy rainfall. Lula won the election by more than 4 million votes. The votes recorded in the extra two hours represented approximately 0.03% of the total votes.

Flavio Bolsonaro is also under investigation for alleged ties to a banker connected to a corruption scheme. Investigators reportedly discovered that Bolsonaro had "master user" access to bank accounts belonging to Alcazar Holdings, a company owned by Tomaz. In May 2025, a person working for Tomaz requested the bank to remove Bolsonaro’s access to the accounts, according to local media outlets citing police findings. Both Bolsonaro and Tomaz deny having a joint account or financial ties.

The order requires Bolsonaro to surrender his passports and bars him from contacting Tomaz. Bolsonaro stated he would comply with the order and had "never considered" leaving Brazil.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly criticized Brazil’s judiciary, describing investigations into him as politically motivated. The money laundering investigation was assigned to Justice de Moraes on October 16. De Moraes also presided over the trial of Jair Bolsonaro, who was convicted of attempting to overturn his 2022 election defeat and sentenced to prison.