Money-laundering scheme a Bolsonaro family business?

With all of the media focus on President Jair Bolsonaro replacing Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello — meaning Brazil will have its fourth different Health Minister since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic — a bombastic and potentially damaging corruption scandal involving the First Family has flown somewhat under the radar.

On Monday afternoon, news website UOL published excerpts from a police investigation into money-laundering schemes run by members of Congress and local politicians, including the names of President Bolsonaro and his second-eldest son, Carlos.

Last August, The Brazilian Report published exhaustive details of the so-called “rachadinha” scandal involving the president’s eldest son, Senator Flávio Bolsonaro. During his time as a lawmaker in Rio de Janeiro, evidence suggests that Mr. Bolsonaro employed a number of dummy staffers and embezzled a portion of their salaries, paid for with taxpayers’ money. Until now, however, there was no proof directly linking President Bolsonaro to the corruption scheme.

Journalists from UOL gained access to the banking records of former employees of Jair and Carlos Bolsonaro, requested as part of the investigation into the family’s eldest son. After analyzing 607,552 financial transactions of 100 individuals suspected of being involved in the scheme, reporters found that both the president and Carlos Bolsonaro skimmed a portion of...