Brazil’s Supreme Court has ordered the seizure of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s travel passport over suspicions that he might flee the country after losing last weekend’s presidential election to incumbent leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes said Mr Bolsonaro was under investigation for his alleged role in, and complicity with, a $1 billion money laundering scheme involving his friend, Willer Tomaz.
Mr Tomaz is a lawyer who has been linked to numerous betting companies suspected as conduits for laundering illicit funds.
Both men denied wrongdoing, but Mr Moraes asked Mr Bolsonaro to surrender his passport until investigations conclude. The lawmaker was also asked to hand over his diplomatic passport.
The judge ordered Mr Bolsonaro to avoid any communication or contact with his friend.
“I was served with an order to hand over my passports, and I am also prohibited from leaving the country,” Mr Bolsonaro said in a video announcing his ordeal.
Earlier this month, Mr Bolsonaro’s brother, Eduardo, who has been in the U.S. since 2025, suggested on a podcast that the senator should leave Brazil if he lost the election.
But the senator dismissed the suggestion as his brother’s personal opinion, arguing he never intended to flee the country.
“I never said that,” he insisted in the video.
Mr Bolsonaro’s party also issued a statement acknowledging the results but questioning them on Monday evening.
“We recognise the presidential result proclaimed by the electoral court, but believe that the questions raised need to be properly clarified through a balanced and democratic political debate,” the statement said.
Mr Moraes is the same judge who presided over the trial of the senator’s father and former president Jair Bolsonaro, who plotted a coup against his successor, Mr Silva.
He refused to concede his loss but instead tried to assassinate Mr Silva and Mr Moraes, according to the mounting evidence submitted by prosecutors.
The former president was sentenced to 27 years’ imprisonment but is serving the sentence at home due to his frail health.
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