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DF Appeals Court Backs Media Use of 'Careca do INSS' Nickname

The ruling reinforces press protections to identify a suspect by a widely known nickname during reporting on a major INSS fraud probe.

Overview

  • The DF appeals court, which ruled April 16, unanimously denied Antônio Carlos Camilo Antunes’s bid to block journalists from using the nickname in their stories.
  • Judges followed rapporteur Jesuíno Rissato, who wrote that the moniker is broadly used as a public identifier and shows no intent to insult, so it falls within normal newsgathering.
  • A lower court rejected the complaint in May 2025, and the case now sits in the phase for clarification motions known as embargos de declaração.
  • Antunes remains jailed as a lead suspect in Operação Sem Desconto, and Federal Police reports cite him by the nickname and flag ties to about 22 companies, luxury car seizures, and R$12.2 million moved in roughly four months.
  • The PF and federal audit office say entities took about R$6.3 billion in improper fees from INSS benefits from 2019 to 2024, and by March the INSS had recorded 6.4 million challenges and nearly R$3 billion returned to beneficiaries.