Brazil's Federal Police has opened a new front in its investigation of lawyer Willer Tomaz de Sousa, a friend of senator and presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro: officers are looking into whether he used online betting to launder money, according to the column of Bela Megale at O Globo. The figures feeding the suspicion appear in a civil lawsuit filed by Tomaz's own defense against the betting platform Blaze. Between January 2025 and July 2026, he wagered R$ 6.6 billion and accumulated losses of R$ 188.5 million, according to data the defense submitted to the case file, which G1 had access to. The suit was filed in August with the courts of São Paulo and stayed under seal until early Tuesday afternoon (29). The news site Metrópoles published the story first.
The defense says Tomaz has been diagnosed with ludopathy, the disorder marked by loss of control over the impulse to gamble, in a report by a licensed mental health professional, and demands that the platform return everything he deposited. The case file shows 2,145 deposits totaling R$ 325 million, money he rolled into successive wagers until the total reached the billions reported. The filing describes online casino tables that accepted up to R$ 500,000 per round, in games lasting 30 seconds, and cites R$ 42.2 million in "stimuli", bonuses the company paid for his loyalty. Exclusive service through a WhatsApp group dates back to April 2023, before Brazil regulated online betting. The defense also criticizes the platform's structure: it took deposits of up to R$ 500,000 in a single transaction but capped withdrawals at R$ 100,000 per operation. In one night, the filing says, Tomaz lost R$ 1.9 million and was left with R$ 0.29 in his account.
What each side says
Reached by Bela Megale's column, Tomaz said the published figures "do not correspond to reality" and rejected the suspicion: "There is no room to speak of money laundering. All the transactions took place in his own bank account, in a transparent and traceable manner, with no concealment or dissimulation of the origin or destination of the funds." He added that because the matter is "strictly personal" he would make no further comments. Blaze, in its response in the case file, rejects the defense's framing of the negative balance as a loss:
"The net movement of the account is not damage. It is the difference between what came in and what went out of an account that worked, over eighteen months, like a checking account, with successive inflows and outflows, often on the same day."
Timeline of the case
Tomaz is not new to Federal Police inquiries. He was arrested in 2017 on suspicion of trying to interfere with Operação Greenfield, a probe into pension fund fraud. Since 2025 he has been investigated in Operação Sem Desconto, launched on April 23 of that year, which examines unauthorized association dues skimmed from retirement and pension payments by the INSS, Brazil's national social security institute. In August he was targeted by search and seizure warrants in a phase examining money laundering that, according to the police, benefited senator Weverton Rocha of the PDT and his family. The force described Tomaz as a kind of financial and patrimonial support structure for the senator, involving companies, real estate and aircraft. According to the investigation, the senator's wife, Samya, allegedly received more than R$ 11 million in 2024 from companies tied to Tomaz, and a R$ 6 million house identified as Weverton's was registered in April 2023 in the name of a company linked to the lawyer. In a statement, Tomaz denied any INSS wrongdoing and said the inquiry "concerns only the ownership of a property".
The link to Flávio Bolsonaro runs through a jet. According to a report by piauí magazine cited by O Globo, Tomaz was one of the owners of the plane that carried the senator and his family home from the United States in January 2025; the aircraft was administered by a company of former Banco Master banker Daniel Vorcaro, who is jailed in Brasília. Tomaz says he has never met Vorcaro. The lawyer has also testified before the JBS CPMI, a joint congressional inquiry, as recorded by the Senate news agency. The published figures vary with the period measured: the platform's annual statement for 2025, cited by O Globo, shows R$ 4.8 billion in winnings and nearly R$ 5 billion in losses, a net annual loss of R$ 163.2 million. Those billions count successive wagers, including prizes bet again, not fresh deposits. The amount sought in the suit also differs across reports: G1 says the defense wants all deposits returned, O Globo puts the claim at R$ 20 million and UOL reported an attempt to recover R$ 163 million.
The civil suit remains under seal in the São Paulo courts, with no date set for a ruling, and the new Federal Police inquiry is ongoing, with no deadlines disclosed. G1 reports that Blaze sponsors Santos striker Neymar Jr and had a contract with influencer Virgínia Fonseca. The case became public five days before the first round of Brazil's presidential election, in which Flávio Bolsonaro is a candidate, and days after the federal government issued a provisional measure banning online betting nationwide.