Antônio Carlos Freixo Júnior, the businessman who signed a cooperation deal in the Banco Master investigation in Brazil, appears as a "winner" in 570 financial intelligence reports on bets and prizes filed between January 2020 and June 2025, in operations totaling R$ 176.4 million, according to the Sao Paulo state prosecutors. The finding supported search warrants executed on Thursday (Sept. 24) in the third phase of Operation Carbono Oculto, called Crédito Oculto, run by Gaeco, the organized crime unit of the state prosecutors, with Brazil's federal tax authority, the Receita Federal. Freixo is under investigation for money laundering and has not been indicted in this phase.
According to g1, the reports on prizes and bets reached Coaf, Brazil's financial intelligence council, because they showed signs deemed atypical, and Freixo appears in all 570 records as the "winner". Prosecutors describe a triangulation pattern: third parties would place the bets, but the prizes would be transferred directly to accounts of companies linked to the businessman, such as Cactus Assessoria e Serviços Ltda. For the prosecutors, the unusual frequency of the prizes, the volume moved and the use of lottery outlets suggest the records could serve to disguise the origin of funds rather than represent luck-based winnings. The lotteries themselves are not under investigation and are not part of the suspected scheme.
"Beyond acts characteristic of money laundering, a network of fraudulent financial structuring involving prizes and bets has been uncovered, apparently with the aim of laundering clients' money", Gaeco prosecutors wrote in the filing sent to the court, as quoted by InfoMoney.
A short timeline of the case
Freixo became known in the investigations of Banco Master, the bank formerly controlled by banker Daniel Vorcaro, which was shut down amid fraud inquiries. In August, he signed a colaboração premiada, the Brazilian version of a plea deal, with the federal Attorney General's Office (PGR); Supreme Court Justice André Mendonça ratified it in September. In his testimony, he detailed financial operations with Vorcaro, including transfers to the fund that financed Dark Horse, a film about former president Jair Bolsonaro, according to InfoMoney. His holding company, Entre Investimentos, had already been liquidated by Brazil's Central Bank in March, after Operation Compliance Zero examined frauds at Master. Freixo started work at 14 as an office boy, moved up through the financial market and founded the Entre group in 2016.
The link to the fuel sector
In the current phase, investigators describe him as the leader of Grupo Entre Investimentos and one of the main providers of financial shielding and money laundering services to the criminal organization attributed to Roberto Augusto Leme da Silva, known as "Beto Louco", and to Mohamad Hussein Mourad, known as "Primo". Both are fugitives and are linked to fuel distribution. The connection to that market runs through his companies: EntrePay received R$ 166,500 from Ceopag, a fintech allegedly used by companies tied to the two fugitives, and Entre Investimentos transferred R$ 620,000 to Quimicolor, identified as part of a payment structure involving methanol diverted to adulterate fuel. g1 notes that these transactions alone do not mean Freixo has been identified as a member of the organization.
According to the Receita Federal, the warrants covered 13 individuals and 19 companies in seven states: 26 executions in Sao Paulo and one each in Espirito Santo, Goias, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina. Judge Sandro Nogueira de Barros Leite, of the 2nd Criminal Court of Catanduva, in Sao Paulo state, authorized them, according to InfoMoney. At the press conference, the superintendent of the Receita Federal said "there is an industry supplying financial structures to launder money", as recorded by O Globo and UOL. The stated goal of the phase is to unravel laundering structures used to buy one of the country's largest fuel distributors; according to the agency, a sugar and ethanol mill received R$ 100 million that passed through pass-through accounts in fintechs within minutes.
g1 reported that it was trying to reach Freixo's lawyers for comment, without success by publication time. As an investigated person, he is presumed innocent. The next step is the analysis of the seized documents and equipment, and prosecutors say they are seeking to clarify the context and purpose of the transactions. His cooperation deal with the PGR, ratified in September, remains in force at the Supreme Court.