Key Takeaways
- Brazil’s police launched Operation Exchange, disrupting a PCC ring that laundered $2B via crypto.
- An uncoordinated U.S. OFAC designation leaked the raid, letting a key laundering suspect escape.
- Authorities executed 24 warrants in Sao Paulo, capturing one suspect linked to the Florida pipeline.
Brazil Terminates PCC-Linked Crypto Money Laundering Ring
The Brazilian Federal Police launched Operation Exchange on Friday, targeting a high-profile criminal organization linked to the Brazilian Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), which used cryptocurrency and cash to launder illicit funds and transfer them from Florida to Brazil.
The operation, which involved 50 policemen, included the execution of 13 search-and-seizure warrants and 11 temporary arrest warrants at locations in the State of São Paulo.
According to local media, the police reported that the organization used “a structured system to move funds through illicit cryptocurrency transfers and cash transportation.“
Authorities estimated that through this scheme, these criminals laundered nearly $2 billion by mixing transactions between users, large banking transactions, and cash. Nonetheless, no exchange has been identified as being involved in this scheme, as investigations are still ongoing.
On July 1, Victor Henrique de Oliveira Shimada and Stella Stefanie Nunes Henrique de Oliveira, two suspects of integrating this organization, were designated by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) alongside three Brazilian companies and one Portuguese company due to their links to the PCC.
At that time, the U.S. Department of the Treasury declared that Shimada had been “a key link” for these operations. Shimada helped launder “more than $30 million in illicit proceeds generated in and around multiple cities in the United States, utilizing cryptocurrency to move funds back to Brazil on behalf of PCC,” the office alleged.
While Nunes Henrique de Oliveira was captured, Shimada is now a fugitive. Federal Police chief Andrei Rodrigues referred to a lack of coordination between the OFAC designation and Operation Exchange, revealing that the police had to execute these warrants before originally planned.
“Actually, if there hadn’t been this designation, maybe the outcome would be different, and we could have located this person. There was damage to our investigation,” he stated at a press conference.
The Trump Administration designated PCC and Comando Vermelho as SDGTs in May, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that these two groups “command thousands of members and have orchestrated brutal attacks against Brazilian police officers, public officials, and civilians.”