Brazil has launched its largest-ever operation against organised crime, exposing what authorities describe as a multibillion-dollar money laundering scheme linked to the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), one of the country’s most powerful cartels. The nationwide raids involved more than 1,400 agents and were carried out across eight states.
The operation, named Hidden Carbon, targeted 350 individuals and businesses. Officials announced that they were moving to freeze assets worth about R$1 billion, believed to have been obtained through illegal activity. The crackdown shook Brazil’s financial and energy sectors, as the investigation pointed to a web of fraud connected to fuel sales, investment funds, and financial technology firms.
Brazil’s Finance Minister Fernando Haddad described the operation as “exemplary” and said it managed to reach the “top floor of the system”, striking directly at the higher levels of organised crime.
The PCC, born out of a São Paulo prison massacre in the 1990s, has grown into a multinational crime organisation with influence in several countries. Authorities said the group used legal businesses and fraudulent schemes to hide illicit drug profits.
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A Giant Fuel Scheme Exposed
Investigators reported that oil products such as diesel and naphtha worth nearly R$10 billion were imported between 2020 and 2024 with funds tied to the PCC. These products were then sold through more than a thousand gas stations across ten states.
According to tax officials, the cartel’s associates used the fuel sector to move about R$52 billion in transactions over the four-year period. Authorities allege that fuel distributors, formulators, and station operators worked together to launder criminal money, while also engaging in fraudulent practices such as tax evasion and fuel adulteration.
The scale of the fuel operation was described as a “criminal refinery” by officials. The discovery highlighted how deeply organised crime had embedded itself into the everyday economy, making it difficult for authorities to track the origins of money flowing through the system.
Brazil Cartel’s Hidden Footprint in Finance and Funds
The investigation also revealed strong ties between the criminal network and the country’s financial sector. Officials discovered that a fintech company, BK Bank, was allegedly operating as a “shadow bank”, moving nearly R$46 billion over four years. This company was allegedly used to channel illicit funds while disguising them as legal financial transactions.
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Tax authorities also identified about 40 investment funds, with assets worth R$30 billion, that were secretly controlled by the PCC. These funds were structured in layers to hide the true owners. The criminal organisation had also invested heavily in physical assets, purchasing a port terminal, ethanol plants, hundreds of fuel trucks, and farmland.
The raids carried out under Operation Hidden Carbon included visits to financial companies and fuel distributors suspected of working with the cartel. Reag Capital, a listed asset management company, confirmed that searches took place at its offices and assured investors it was cooperating with authorities. The company’s shares fell by 17 percent on the São Paulo stock exchange following the raids.
Fuel companies Aster and Copape were also named in the investigation, though they did not immediately respond to the accusations.
Officials said that the sheer scale and complexity of the cartel’s financial operations revealed how organised crime in Brazil has gone far beyond drug trafficking. Criminal groups now reach into industries such as public transport, mining, and energy, making it harder for authorities to separate legal businesses from illicit operations.
The operation involved several government bodies, including tax inspectors, prosecutors, federal police, and both civil and military police forces. In a parallel probe, federal police reported uncovering an additional R$23 billion in illegal fuel transactions and R$600 million in money laundering tied to the same sector.