Brazil's Federal Police in São Paulo closed on Wednesday (30) the inquiry known as Operation Quasar and formally indicted 13 people suspected of helping the PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital), one of Brazil's most powerful criminal organizations, penetrate the fuel retail and financial sectors. According to G1, the indictees are executives at investment funds, brokerages and fintechs, and the force attributes to them the crimes of criminal organization, money laundering and fraudulent management.
The step, called "indiciamento" in Brazil, is the act by which police formally name who they consider responsible for crimes at the end of an investigation. It is not a conviction: the 13 remain suspects unless federal prosecutors bring charges and a court rules against them. The Federal Police says the group supported a scheme led by businessmen Mohamad Hussein Mourad, known as "Primo", and Roberto Augusto Leme da Silva, known as "Beto Louco". Both have been on the run since last year and were not direct targets of this inquiry.
A timeline of the case
Quasar was launched on August 28, 2025, together with two other operations against the alleged infiltration of the faction: Tank, run by the Federal Police in Paraná state, and Carbono Oculto (Hidden Carbon), led by the São Paulo state prosecution service with the Federal Revenue Service. On that day police served 12 search and seizure warrants in São Paulo city and the state's interior, and a court ordered the freeze of about R$ 1.2 billion.
How the scheme allegedly worked
Investigators say the group used investment funds and a web of companies to hide money of illegal origin. Companies within the same group simulated purchases and sales of real estate and securities with no real economic purpose. The Federal Police describes "multiple corporate and financial layers", with funds holding stakes in other funds or companies, which made it harder to identify who ended up with the money and, in the police's view, served to shield assets.
A picture of the scheme's scale comes from the Tank inquiry, the sister operation launched the same day. According to CNN Brasil, which reviewed that inquiry, 50 gas stations in Curitiba received cash deposits averaging 2,000 a day, peaking at 12,000 a day in some months, and accounts tied to the suspects moved R$ 23 billion in nearly four years. CNN Brasil reported at the time that it could not reach lawyers for the fugitives.
The final report of the Quasar inquiry has been sent to the Federal Prosecution Service (Ministério Público Federal). In the coming days, prosecutors must decide whether to file criminal charges, request further investigation or dismiss the case. No date has been set for that decision.