SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Brazilian police and tax officials carried out a series of raids early on Thursday across the country targeting multibillion-dollar money laundering and fraud schemes linked to organized crime in the fuel sector, authorities said.
Multinational energy firms have struggled for years to root out organized crime from their distribution networks in Brazil, and the revenue service said this week's crackdown related to schemes involving more than 10 billion reais ($1.84 billion) in fuel imports and 52 billion reais in domestic fuel sales.
It said another 46 billion reais in illicit financial transactions linked to the schemes had moved through fintech companies from 2020 to 2024.
"Today we launched one of the biggest operations in history against organized crime," Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski told reporters.
Authorities said they had served about 350 search warrants in eight states and sought to block more than 1 billion reais in assets.
Asset manager REAG Investimentos was among the targets of the warrants, according to a court decision seen by Reuters.
REAG said in a securities filing it was "fully cooperating with the competent authorities, providing the information and documents requested" as part of the "ongoing investigative procedure."
The company's shares dropped sharply in early trading, falling 17% versus the previous day.
In a separate statement, the federal police said they had simultaneously launched the "Quasar" and "Tank" operations, also aimed at cracking down on schemes that allegedly moved more than 23 billion reais in the fuel sector.
($1 = 5.4212 reais)
(Reporting by Eduardo Simoes, Alberto Alerigi Jr. in Sao Paulo, Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro, and Bernado Caram in Brasilia;Writing by Gabriel Araujo and Oliver Griffin; Editing by Toby Chopra, Frances Kerry and Helen Popper)
