The 13th Federal Court of Curitiba ordered the arrest of 14 people accused of involvement with a criminal organization that seized part of the country's fuel production chain and was laundering money through investment funds in the Faria Lima region. The frauds involved a turnover of R$23 billion. Among the accused whose arrests were ordered are businessmen Roberto Augusto Leme da Silva, known as Beto Loco, and Mohamad Hussein Mourad, known as Primo, identified as the true owners of the former Aster/Copape group.
Silva and Mourad could not be reached for comment regarding the accusations. The space is open.
The Federal Police have already arrested six members of the group. However, both Mourad and Belo Loco are considered fugitives. The investigation by the Sensitive Investigations Group (GISE), part of the Federal Police (PF) Superintendence in Curitiba, began in 2023, after a man linked to the First Capital Command (PCC) was released from prison, where he was serving a sentence for international drug trafficking. The man ended up becoming an administrator at a fuel distribution company.
Soon, the company, which had no revenue, began to generate millions of reais. Following this lead, federal agents reached the same group being investigated by prosecutors from the Special Task Force to Combat Organized Crime (GAECO) in São Paulo, which resulted in the organization of Operations Carbono Oculto, Quasar, and Tank, the latter two also carried out by the Federal Police this Thursday, the 28th.
During the investigation, police discovered that the group was laundering money through a payment institution called Tycoon Technology. This fintech company is used by criminals to move money from fuel fraud. Police successfully secured the seizure of 1,200 of the group's vehicles, mostly tanker trucks. A total of 141 of these were seized in Thursday's operation.
They also secured the seizure of 190 properties valued at R$1 billion and seized resources. Among those arrested by the federal authorities is the man identified as Tycoon's director, businessman Rafael Bronzatti Belon. The report was unable to locate his defense. Rafael Gineste, also arrested by police officers, was found hiding in a speedboat and threw his cell phone overboard.
