Brazil Asks The U.S. To Help Stop Dirty Money And Smuggled Guns
Brazil’s new push toward Washington is not about speeches; it is about closing very specific loopholes in the U.S. that are helping Brazilian crime pay.
A giant fuel-tax scandal has given Brasília a concrete case, with names, numbers and a clear money trail that runs through Delaware and U.S. ports. The trigger was Operation Poço de Lobato, a federal raid on fuel group Grupo Refit in Rio de Janeiro.
Investigators say the group dodged more than R$26 billion ($4.9 billion) in fuel taxes and moved around R$72 billion ($13.3 billion) in just one year through a web of firms in Brazil and offshore. Courts have already frozen over R$10 billion ($1.9 billion) in assets.
Officials say part of that flow ran through Delaware-style structures and U.S. shell companies. Money left Brazil as “loans” and returned dressed up as foreign direct investment, used to buy real estate and stakes in local companies while paying little or no tax.
At the same time, Brazilian police say gangs are receiving illegal rifles hidden inside ordinary cargo containers leaving U.S. ports, using the same logistics that move legitimate goods.
Trump’s policies shape Brazil’s fight against organized crime
This is where Donald Trump’s track record actually matters for Brazil. In 2017 he signed Executive Order 13773, ordering U.S. agencies to treat transnational criminal organizations – including cartels, weapons traffickers and money-laundering networks – as a top national-security threat and to increase intelligence sharing with foreign partners.
His Justice Department created special task forces aimed at major Mexican cartels, and his State Department helped launch a U.S.–Brazil Permanent Security Forum in 2018 focused on drug, arms and financial crimes.
In 2019 he went further and designated Brazil a “major non-NATO ally”, opening the door to closer defense and law-enforcement cooperation.
More recently, he created a specific process to label cartels as terrorist organizations, bringing tougher sanctions and asset freezes for anyone who finances or equips them.
For Brazil, that toolbox is exactly what is now being requested: pressure for transparency on Delaware funds, joint work to trace gun exports dealer by dealer, and U.S. sanctions or asset freezes against businessmen who quietly partner with Brazilian gangs. For expats and investors, the issue is not abstract.
If that cooperation happens, Brazil becomes a safer and more predictable place to live and do business; if it does not, well-connected criminals will go on shifting their fortunes through U.S. structures while everyone else pays the price in taxes, prices and fear.
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