Federal Police investigators say budget earmarks from Congressman Mario Frias (PL-SP) may have fed a scheme to divert public money that involved his lawyers, former congressional aides and the producer of "Dark Horse", a film about former president Jair Bolsonaro. According to Folha de S.Paulo, a Federal Police document lists embezzlement, fraud and money laundering among the crimes under investigation.
Earmarks, called emendas parlamentares in Brazil, let members of Congress direct federal funds to projects of their choosing. The document suggests that R$ 2 million routed to two projects, the sports program "Lutando pela Vida" and the digital literacy program "Jovem Empreendedor", may have been diverted through payments by the Instituto Conhecer Brasil (ICB), which received the money, to companies tied to the lawmaker's former aides or lawyers. The scheme, police say, would also have drawn on the deputy's office allowance, campaign donations and diversions that reached Go Up, the company behind "Dark Horse".
The link to the film
Go Up and the ICB are both linked to businesswoman Karina Gama, the film's producer, whose companies also received money from other lawmakers and public bodies such as the São Paulo city government, Folha reports. The film was financed by Daniel Vorcaro, former owner of the defunct Banco Master, who is jailed in Brasília. Presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), son of the former president, has admitted brokering the payments, which totaled about R$ 61 million before Vorcaro's arrest, according to news outlet G1.
Reports from Coaf, Brazil's financial intelligence unit, cited in the investigation, show that Go Up moved R$ 19 million between November 10 and December 30, 2025, the period when the film was shot in São Paulo. The producer received R$ 750,000 from NTT Brasil, a company in the group of Heric Dias, whose firms received R$ 700,000 from the ICB, and R$ 645,400 from Frias himself, whose monthly income is listed at R$ 44,008. "The temporal coincidence between the film shoot and the period of those transactions stands out, as does the nature of the expenses, which include a high-end hotel and meals", the police report says.
Video lessons and martial arts gear
Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino authorized the operation on September 10 and lifted the secrecy of the case. In the "Jovem Empreendedor 4.0" project, which received R$ 1 million in partnership with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, auditors found that R$ 300,000 paid for 24 video lessons published months after the agreement had ended; in a July inspection, ten of them had a combined seven views. The ministry rejected the project's accounts. In the sports project, G1 reports, the institute bought martial arts uniforms and mats that were never delivered.
Gama denies any wrongdoing. "An investigation is not an accusation, much less a conviction", her defense says. Frias, who is running for reelection, denies irregularities and calls the operation a "smoke screen" in the middle of the 2026 campaign. The inquiry remains with Dino at the Supreme Court and has not led to charges so far. The deputy faces voters in October.