Federal Police Target Alleged R$500 Million Caixa Fraud in Operation Fallax

Overview

• Operação Fallax launched by the Federal Police targets an alleged scheme that siphoned more than R$500 million from Caixa, with 43 search warrants, 21 preventive arrest orders, 14 arrests reported, and about R$47 million in assets blocked.
• Investigators say the network used shell companies and co‑opted bank staff to obtain loans and move illicit funds, and they list suspected crimes that include organized crime, fraud, money laundering, and corruption.
• Executives linked to Grupo Fictor are among the targets, including CEO Rafael Góis and former partner Luiz Phillippe Gomes Rubini, while the lead suspect and his spouse are treated as fugitives as police also probe possible laundering links to a Comando Vermelho offshoot known as the Bonde do Magrelo.
• In Brasília, the Senate’s organized‑crime inquiry heard ex‑governor Pedro Taques about alleged payroll‑loan frauds in Mato Grosso that may have hit about 14,000 state employees, with requests citing Capital Consig and possible Banco Master involvement, and the panel noted that influencer Martha Graeff did not attend.
• Parallel state actions include the detention of former Campo Grande mayor Alcides Bernal on suspicion of killing a state fiscal and a Maranhão arrest tied to the disappearance of Piauí businessman Marcílio Salles Brito, where a suspect’s tip led police to the victim’s burned pickup and blood and ammunition at the scene.