The house sits at the back of a plot in Vila Brasilândia, a working class district in northern São Paulo, bordering the property where the family of producer Karina da Gama lives. Its owner, Vanderlei Magalhães Natividade, is an industrial electrician who advertises repairs for businesses and apartments on social media. On September 10, federal police officers arrived with a search warrant authorized by Justice Flávio Dino of the Supreme Federal Court, Brazil's highest court. In the records of the organization under investigation, his name appears as treasurer of an entity that moved about R$ 83 million in a single year.
On Monday (14), his lawyers, Miguel Kupermann and Matheus Yasbeck Montenegro, said he "never in fact carried out any activity" at the Instituto Conhecer Brasil (ICB), a nonprofit organization controlled by Karina da Gama. According to the defense statement, 12 years ago Vanderlei handed over his personal data, at his cousin's request, to help set up the institute, and was formally registered as its statutory treasurer. TVT News reports that he had introduced himself as a relative of the businesswoman. Since then, his lawyers argue, he has played no role in the organization.
"Despite this designation in the bylaws, Vanderlei never in fact carried out any activity at the institute, never moved the organization's accounts and never received any amount by reason of his supposed executive position," the statement reads.
What the investigation says
The defense account clashes with what the Federal Police recorded. According to g1, the force identifies Natividade as the person whose signature appears on documents tied to transfers that totaled about R$ 83 million at the ICB between September 2023 and August 2024. In the ruling that authorized the operation, quoted by TVT News, Dino wrote that the electrician had access to all of the entity's accounts and carried out high value financial operations. The raid came with his passport seized and a ban on leaving Brazil without court authorization. It was the second operation at the address: on June 1, São Paulo state police had already served a warrant there. The g1 sought comment from the ICB on why the electrician still appears as treasurer and had received no reply by publication time.
The institute holds, among other contracts, an annual deal worth R$ 108 million with the São Paulo city government to provide Wi-Fi access point services in the city's outskirts, according to TVT News, which also reports that state police suspect money from the city's WiFi Livre SP program was diverted to produce the film. Operation Make Up, launched on September 10, executed 49 search and seizure warrants and placed 29 people under precautionary court measures. Among them are Karina da Gama, the institute's president, and federal deputy Mário Frias of the right wing PL party.
The film and its producer
At the center of the case is Dark Horse, a feature produced by Karina da Gama about the political career of former president Jair Bolsonaro. The inquiry at the Supreme Court examines suspected use of public money in the film's financing and in the institute's finances. According to TVT News, Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president's son and a presidential candidate this year, is also under Federal Police investigation for suspected money laundering and corruption linked to the film's financing. After the operation, Karina's lawyers filed a constitutional complaint with the court. Lawyer Ricardo Sayeg said the filing does not challenge the merits of the investigation and seeks only to enforce decisions by the court's presidency and the jurisdiction of the proper judge. The defense says the producer had been cooperating voluntarily and handed the Federal Police more than 20,000 pages of documents on Friday (11).
In Monday's statement, the lawyers describe Vanderlei as a small businessman who works as an electrician in northern and western São Paulo, with no involvement in politics, cultural production or the film. Back in Vila Brasilândia, the simple house at the back of the plot is still standing. Its owner's name now appears in Supreme Court files, next to a question the inquiry is trying to answer: how an electrician who installs cameras and alarms came to sign, on paper, documents tied to R$ 83 million.