A court in Presidente Prudente, in the interior of São Paulo state, ruled on Thursday (27) to keep lawyer and digital influencer Deolane Bezerra and the other defendants of Operation Vérnix in pretrial detention, according to G1. The operation investigates an alleged money-laundering scheme attributed to the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), Brazil's largest criminal organization. The decision came in the periodic review that Brazilian law requires every 90 days for preventive detentions. Deolane has been in custody since May 21, 2026.

In the ruling, the 3rd Criminal Court of Presidente Prudente found that the legal grounds for pretrial detention remain in place: guaranteeing public and economic order, the proper conduct of the criminal investigation, the need to ensure enforcement of criminal law, the risk that money-laundering activities would continue, and evidence of a structured and permanent criminal organization.

What the prosecution alleges

According to the complaint filed by the São Paulo state prosecutor's office, the criminal organization under investigation was split into three wings: a decision-making wing, formed by Marco Willians Herbas Camacho, known as Marcola, identified as the leader of the PCC, and by Alejandro Juvenal Herbas Camacho Junior; an operational wing; and a financial wing, in which Deolane was placed. In its request to keep her jailed, Gaeco, the organized-crime task force of the state prosecutor's office, called her "the main member of the financial wing", responsible for concealing and disguising illicit funds through bank accounts linked to her and to her companies and for converting those sums into high-value assets.

The prosecution says that fiscal and banking documents and technical reports point to the movement of large sums and their conversion into assets with an appearance of legality, through shell companies and front men, known in Brazil as "laranjas". Gaeco also argued that two defendants, Paloma Sanches Herbas Camacho and Leonardo Alexsander Ribeiro Herbas Camacho, remain fugitives, which in the prosecutors' view reinforces the need for pretrial detention to ensure enforcement of criminal law.

Timeline of the case

• May 21, 2026: Deolane is arrested preventively as part of Operation Vérnix;
• July 2026: the São Paulo State Court of Justice (TJ-SP) unanimously denies a habeas corpus petition filed by her defense;
• August 21, 2026: Gaeco asks the court to keep the preventive detention, citing the seriousness of the facts and flight risk, according to the legal news site Migalhas;
• August 27, 2026: the 3rd Criminal Court of Presidente Prudente keeps Deolane and the other defendants in custody.

What the defense says

Deolane's defense argues that pretrial detention is unnecessary and asked for her release during the review, according to Migalhas. In the habeas corpus judged in July, the defense and a report by the São Paulo chapter of the OAB, Brazil's bar association, raised complaints about prison conditions. The rapporteur, Justice Renata Cantello, described the claims as "mere dissatisfaction with the natural strictness of the prison regime and internal administrative management issues", finding no illegality in the detention and no reason to replace it with house arrest. She also noted that Deolane's bar registration has been suspended since her arrest was ordered.

Everyone named in the complaint is a defendant and is presumed innocent until any conviction becomes final. Under the periodic review rule, the case must return to the courts within 90 days. In the meantime, the defense can appeal the decision to higher courts.