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Flávio Bolsonaro Adriano Machado/Reuters
Brazilian Senator Flávio Bolsonaro fled the country after losing the presidential election to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Sunday (October 25) and declaring that he would not recognize the results. The defeated candidate arrived in the United States on Wednesday morning (October 28).
In Brazil, Flávio is under investigation in two cases before the Supreme Federal Court (STF), Brazil's highest court. The investigations involve suspected irregularities in the financing of a film about his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, and alleged money laundering involving an online betting business and financial transactions linked to Willer Tomaz, a lawyer and friend of Flávio.
For readers outside Brazil, g1 explains in English the Supreme Court investigations into the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, his runoff defeat to Lula and his fraud claims, made without evidence. Who is Flávio Bolsonaro? The eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, the 45-year-old senator represents the state of Rio de Janeiro.
He is married and holds a law degree. He began his political career at age 21 and served four terms as a state legislator before being elected to the Brazilian Senate in 2018 with more than 4 million votes.
Chosen by his father in December 2025 to represent Bolsonarism, the right-wing political movement associated with Jair Bolsonaro, in the 2026 presidential election, he was defeated in the runoff. What investigations is Flávio facing?
Dark Horse One investigation is looking into Flávio's possible involvement in crimes related to the financing of Dark Horse, an unreleased biographical film about his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro.
The case came to light less than six months after Flávio announced his intention to run for president, following a report by the news outlet The Intercept Brasil. The outlet published audio recordings and messages showing that Flávio asked for a payment of R$ 130 million (US$ 24 million) to Daniel Vorcaro, the former banker behind Banco Master, to finance Dark Horse.
g1 and TV Globo obtained documents showing that Vorcaro paid R$61 million (US$ 11 million). Who is Daniel Vorcaro? Vorcaro is a Brazilian businessman who owned Banco Master, a bank ordered into liquidation by Brazil's Central Bank in 2025.
He was arrested by the Federal Police (PF), Brazil's national law enforcement agency, in November of that year on suspicion of financial fraud and arrested again in March 2026 as part of a sweeping investigation into alleged corruption, money laundering and intimidation. "Brother, I thought I'd send you this voice message so you could listen to it carefully.
[...] I know you're going through an extremely difficult time too, with all this confusion, not knowing exactly how things are going to turn out. And even though you told us we could ask you for the money, Daniel, I feel uncomfortable constantly chasing you for it, OK?" Flávio said in one of the conversations.
The case was marked by several contradictions in Flávio's statements about his relationship with Vorcaro. On the day the story broke, Flávio denied that Vorcaro had financed the film and dismissed questions from The Intercept Brasil’s reporter as "political activism."
Hours later, the then-presidential hopeful released a video confirming that he had requested money from Vorcaro but denying any wrongdoing. He also said he had no "improper ties" to the banker and called for a parliamentary inquiry into Banco Master in Brazil's Congress.
In an interview with GloboNews in May, Flávio explained that he had initially denied the banker's involvement in the film because of confidentiality agreements. "I didn't say it was a lie.
I have a confidentiality agreement. I'm talking about it now because it has come to light.
There's no way to deny it anymore," he said. In the same interview, Flávio said payments totaling R$61 million (US$ 11 million) had been made by May 2025.
In September, however, Brazilian magazine Piauí reported that Vorcaro had made another payment of US$1.6 million, bringing the total to approximately R$70 million (US$ 12 million). Flávio said his relationship with Vorcaro was limited to the film and that there would be "no surprises." Four days later, however, following new revelations from the brazilian press, the senator acknowledged visiting Vorcaro after the banker's first arrest, while Vorcaro was under house arrest and wearing an electronic ankle monitor, to end negotiations over the film.
"Yes, I went to meet him to put an end to this story, to say that if he had told me how serious the situation was, I would have looked for another investor much earlier, and the film wouldn't have been at risk," he said. Another contradiction concerned the film's financial records.
On May 19, Flávio said he had instructed the production company to provide a detailed accounting of how the money was spent within 30 days. The deadline passed on June 18 without either the candidate or the production company making the promised documents public.
When questioned, Flávio cited a report from a private expert examination, submitted by the film's producer, Karina Gama, as part of an investigation by the Civil Police of São Paulo, a state-level law enforcement agency. The report, commissioned by the producer herself, said the film's expenses totaled R$75 million (US$ 14 million) but did not include receipts or invoices supporting those expenses.
Another contradiction in Flávio's statements about Banco Master emerged when the senator denied being close to Vorcaro after former First Lady Michelle Bolsonaro shared a social media post about alleged parties hosted by the banker. "I want to assure you: the only relationship I have with Vorcaro is about my father's film.
That's it. You won't see me at Vorcaro's parties.
I've never been on Vorcaro's plane, and I've never been to any astronaut-themed party," he said at a gathering with female supporters. His statement about the plane resurfaced after Piauí reported that, on January 19, 2025, Flávio, his wife and their two daughters flew from Fort Lauderdale, in the United States, to Brasília, Brazil's capital, aboard a Legacy 650 aircraft aby Prime You, a company in which Vorcaro was a partner at the time.
The aircraft was jointly owned. One ownership stake was linked to Prime You, while another belonged to Flávio’s friend, lawyer Willer Tomaz.
Tomaz said he had invited the senator, arranged the flight and covered its entire cost. Following the report, Flávio said he had not known about Vorcaro's connection to the aircraft and that he had been invited by his friend Willer Tomaz.
Willer Tomaz and online betting Another investigation before the STF, overseen by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, is examining whether the senator engaged in money laundering through an online betting company.
Flávio was registered as a "master user" of a bank account belonging to a company owned by lawyer Willer Tomaz, who is under investigation on suspicion of money laundering. According to the Federal Police, this registration gave Flávio "significant operational access" to the bank account and "supports the hypothesis of his possible financial involvement or de facto ownership stake in the company."
Flávio and Willer Tomaz are friends, but both deny having business interests together. The Federal Police found evidence suggesting that they shared a bank account belonging to Alcazar Holdings, a company owned by Tomaz, after discovering emails exchanged between the lawyer's secretary and a Santander bank employee.
Willer Tomaz. Jornal Nacional/ Reprodução
The investigation began in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, where the Federal Police were investigating suspected illegal transfers of money abroad and money laundering. One of the targets was the online betting platform Blaze.
With court authorization, investigators obtained access to Willer Tomaz's private electronic communications. The investigation was then transferred to the Supreme Federal Court after Flávio Bolsonaro's name appeared in emails obtained during the inquiry.
Under Brazilian law, certain high-ranking officials, including sitting senators, are investigated and tried directly by the Supreme Court in specific criminal cases. Alcazar Holdings owns one of three shares in the private jet used by Flávio Bolsonaro and Willer Tomaz on a flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Brazil in January 2025.
Willer is also under investigation for his involvement in a multi-billion-reais scheme to defraud benefits from the National Social Security Institute (INSS, in portuguese). Flávio is also the subject of a Supreme Court investigation into whether he committed criminal defamation against President Lula.
In a post published on X, formerly Twitter, on January 3, 2026, Flávio accused the president, who has since been reelected, of crimes including drug trafficking and money laundering. In July, the Federal Police canceled Flávio's scheduled questioning after his lawyers submitted written explanations.
How did the election unfold? The first round of Brazil's presidential election, held on Sunday, October 4, ended with Senator Flávio Bolsonaro ahead of President Lula.
Flávio received 56,104,503 votes (47.03% of valid votes), while Lula, the candidate of the Workers' Party (PT), received 53,879,538 votes (45.16%). In the runoff election on October 25, following intense campaigning and mobilization by both sides, Lula won with 64,256,232 votes (51.79% of valid votes), while Flávio received 59,826,041 votes (48.21%).
On election day, a court ordered voting hours to be extended by two hours following requests from both campaigns. Lula's party reported public transportation problems in parts of Bahia and other nine states, while Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign cited heavy rain, flooding, landslides and power outages affecting voters in parts of Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, São Paulo and Santa Catarina.
Urna Eletrônica TSE
The decision, however, was announced shortly after 5 p.m., when some polling stations had already closed. The ballot boxes that had already been closed could not be reopened.
As a result, fewer than 35,000 thousand votes had been recorded at the polls by 7 p.m. Lula's lead over Flávio Bolsonaro nationwide in Brazil stood at 4.4 million votes.
How does Brazil's two-round presidential election system work? In Brazil, a presidential candidate must receive more than 50% of valid votes to win in the first round. Blank and invalid ballots are excluded from this calculation.
If no candidate reaches that threshold, the two candidates with the most votes face each other in a runoff election. In the runoff, voters choose between those two candidates.
Votes from the first round are not carried over, and the candidate who receives the majority of valid votes wins. After the results were announced, Kassio Nunes Marques, president of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), the institution responsible for overseeing Brazil's elections, said he had "full confidence in the electoral process" and confirmed the presidential election results.
What does Flávio claim about the election? In a letter released on Wednesday (October 28), after fleeing Brazil, the senator again declared that he would not recognize the results of the presidential runoff, alleged electoral fraud and claimed to be the "true president of Brazil."
He contradicted the position taken by his own party, the PL, and the official confirmation of the results by electoral authorities. After publishing the original letter as images on social media, Flávio released a revised version, replacing the phrases "true president of Brazil" and "president-elect" with "leader of Brazil" and "leader," respectively.
On Sunday (October 25), after the results were announced, Flávio criticized the extension of voting hours, even though his own campaign had also requested it. He said that, because of this, it was "impossible to recognize this result."
"What happened is inexplicable. Even according to the words of one of the justices, as reported by the press, the election should have been annulled under the circumstances in which everything happened.
And what I have to say now is that it is impossible, impossible to recognize the election results given everything that happened. We will take legal action and seek to have these election annulled," the defeated candidate said.
