Better Call Fred

With scandal inching closer to the presidential palace, viewers of the soap opera that is Brazil’s institutional crisis are being introduced to myriad new characters that until recently had been relegated to the underground of politics. One of them is Frederick Wassef, a shady lawyer at the center of the latest affair rocking the Jair Bolsonaro presidency. On Thursday morning, police entered a property in Mr. Wassef’s name — registered as the office of his law firm — and found and arrested Fabrício Queiroz, a former advisor to the Bolsonaro family who investigators say operated an embezzlement scheme from within the office of Flávio Bolsonaro, the president’s eldest son, while he served as a state lawmaker.

Mr. Wassef — described by many as a “behind-the-scenes lawyer” — represents Senator Flávio Bolsonaro in the criminal investigation involving Fabrício Queiroz. And while he said on multiple occasions he didn’t know the former aide’s whereabouts, the truth is that he orchestrated what law enforcement called a “professional scheme” to conceal Mr. Queiroz. That included a state-of-the-art surveillance system and a third person, yet to be identified, who monitored Mr. Queiroz’s every move. 

Stashing Mr. Queiroz in his law office, for instance, was not an accidental move from Mr. Wassef. The Brazilian Constitution grants law firms almost sanctuary-like status — as a way to protect defendants’ right to due process. Only in the most exceptional cases, such as when lawyers are breaking the law, can...