08/29/2024 – 21:41
The criminal faction Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) is suspected of using credit card machine companies to launder money and hide assets, according to investigations by the Special Task Force for the Repression of Organized Crime in São Paulo (Gaeco), an arm of the Public Ministry of São Paulo (MP-SP), Federal Revenue, Federal Police and Federal Public Ministry (MPF).
According to information from Operation Concierge, launched this Wednesday, the 28th, there are indications that Yespay Soluções de Pagamentos Ltda was used by one of the leaders of the João Aparecido Ferraz Netto faction, known as João Cabeludo, to launder money of interest to the PCC. The company was the target of a search and seizure in 2022, in an operation by the São Paulo Civil Police. Estadão seeks contact with the defense of those mentioned in the operations. The space is open for statements. I9Pay denied any connection with crimes. Bancos Bonsucesso and Rendimento said they collaborated with the investigations (read more below).
In 2021, Inácio Cezar Marques de Souza joined Yespay’s corporate structure. He was cited in a police operation on suspicion of laundering money for João Cabeludo and using false documents. Upon joining the company, Marques de Souza deposited R$122,000 into the company’s account.
“In addition, Marques de Souza transfers the 2018/2019 Mercedes Benz vehicle, valued at approximately R$660,000.00 to the company Smart Money Investimentos e Participações, owned by Aedi Cordeiro dos Santos, a likely hidden partner of Denis Arruda in Yespay. The vehicle was seized in the proceedings of Operation Black Flag in May 2021, in Aedi’s possession,” cites an excerpt from a Federal Police report. Smart Money is identified by the PF as a shell company founded by Aedi Santos.
Denis Arruda is cited as the leader of T10 Bank, one of the targets of Operation Concierge, which is being investigated for helping individuals and legal entities create invisible accounts to avoid being tracked by public authorities, which allows money laundering and prevents funds from being frozen. The PCC is listed as a client of the group. I9Pay is also a fintech investigated in the operation. According to the investigation data, the companies were hosted by large financial institutions authorized by the Central Bank (Bancos Bonsucesso and Rendimento).
Between Smart Money and Cedro Preparação de Documentos e Serviços Ltda, a company also in which Denis Arruda participates, there is only one transaction worth R$225 thousand, carried out in November 2020, “which could also be payment for the vehicle, and there is no transaction between Smart Money and Marques de Sousa”, the investigators point out.
In the documents sent to the Court, there is a mention that the close relationship between Aedi Santos and Denis Arrruda, through shell companies, has the objective of “operating money laundering for third parties and obtaining profit, even if their clients are members of the PCC criminal faction”.
In Operation End of the Line, launched in April of this year, there is an investigation into alleged money laundering by the PCC through the companies UPBus and Transwolff, which operate in the public transportation system of the capital of São Paulo. In a document from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, there is a mention of another payment company using a credit card machine allegedly being used for money laundering.
“According to what was found, Luiz Sergio Ferreira da Mota was a hidden partner in the company that operated payment machines. The infraction report proved that Zigpag used these machines to make several transfers of funds, without any commercial reason, or to rent machines to merchants so that they would not have their revenues in their name,” the investigators said. Ferreira da Mota is identified as a partner in a company with links to SPE 7 of Admar de Carvalho Martins, which “are involved in a sophisticated money laundering scheme by the PCC,” Gaeco points out.
Admar de Carvalho Martins is presented as one of the largest shareholders of UPBus for the period 2015, according to the balance sheet presented in 2016. “From 2015 to 2022, while UPBUS recorded losses of around R$5 million, Admar received almost R$15 million in distributed profits, values absolutely incompatible with the deficit situation found”, says an excerpt from the Gaeco investigation.
UPBus, which has been under intervention by the City of São Paulo since last April, by order of the 1st and 2nd Tax Crimes, Criminal Organization and Money Laundering Courts of the Capital, also appears in Operation Concierge suspected of opening a sub-account at T10 Bank to hide assets and, thus, avoid seizures.
The reason for creating a sub-account with T10 Bank, investigators suspect, is the company’s multi-million dollar debt with the Federal Government and the End of the Line operation, launched in April of this year. The financial operation, therefore, would be to avoid possible judicial blockages. “The fact that the company UPBus has more than R$61 million in tax debts registered as active debt with the Federal Government, would justify (evidence) the use of the ‘services’ provided by T10 Bank, of ‘non-seizability’ of its bank accounts”, says an excerpt from the investigation cited in the decision by Judge Valdirene Ribeiro de Souza Falcão, of the 9th Federal Criminal Court of Campinas, who ordered preventive and temporary arrests and searches and seizures.
UPBus is listed as the 11th largest remitter of T10 Bank. “Therefore, it was observed that, apparently, the UPBus sub-account at T10 Bank served as an intermediary for the movement of funds, breaking the chain of analysis of the flow of funds, considering that, for the official financial system, the account was held by T10 Bank and not by UPBus,” says an excerpt from the document.
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