Investigations revealed drug trafficking gangs laundered crime money by buying homes on popular South Carolina beaches
A The arrest of an international drug trafficking ring in southern Brazil revealed a major money laundering scheme. Criminals have invested in apartments and even entire buildings on one of the country’s most beautiful and popular stretches of coastline.
In the last six months alone, the The judiciary seized at least 560 properties valued at more than R$2 billion.
How the investigation began
The investigation was launched due to a spate of violent killings on the waterfront. And the leader of the organization used the “GT” brand to identify himself.
The bearer of the brand was Marcos Silas Neves de Souza, who was arrested in São Paulo in 2021 while attempting to have plastic surgery. Investigations revealed that Marcos Silas was one of the largest cocaine traffickers in Brazil.
Watch the video report above:
- How the police began investigating the drug dealer and how he laundered the money from the crime;
- Which objects were identified during the investigations and their profile;
- How the movement in the ports alerted the federal police.
In recent years, Fantástico has shown how drug dealers began using the coast of Santa Catarina to transport drugs across the country, also occupying luxury homes as hideouts. And in the last six months alone, there have been eight antimoney laundering operations.
money laundering
In one such operation, properties belonging to a few fugitive drug dealers were confiscated. Federal police claim that lawyer Guilherme Augusto Ferreira was the couple’s money laundering operator.
According to the investigation, the lawyer also invested in luxury real estate with funds from the plan. He lived in a R$2.5 million penthouse in Navegantes. But he moved to another property in the neighboring town of Itajaí: valued at R$7 million.
In another investigation, a drug and arms dealer from Rio de Janeiro and his brother turned real estate money laundering into a family business — and moved to Santa Catarina. The brothers also hired a couple of real estate agents: Moacir Ribeiro de Souza and Graziele Maria da Cruz lived lives of luxury and hype.
The broker couple even started a money laundering management company. With the money from the drug trade, they bought apartments and sold them to people who police said had no idea. They started using the values to construct a building, but the police stopped the construction of the property.
Another investigation indicates that according to federal police, Paraguayan drug dealer Rodrigo Alvarenga Paredes also laundered money from properties in Santa Catarina. He was arrested in Paraguay in March.
For case officer Bruno Humelino, revaluation of land on the Santa Catarina coast is what’s prompting several gangs to look to the area. The president of the brokerage council, Fernando Amorim Willrich, defends penalties for the professionals involved in the cases.
other sides
In a note, the defense stated that no crime could be linked to Rodrigo Alvarenga Paredes, that all his assets were of legal origin and declared in income tax.
The defense of real estate agent couple Moacir Ribeiro de Souza and Grazieli Maria da Cruz denies that they committed money laundering or any other crime. And that his innocence will be proven in court.
Drug dealer Marcos Silas, GT’s defense also claims his client’s innocence will be proven during the trial.
And the defense of Guilherme Augusto Ferreira, the arrested lawyer, said the facts under investigation date back more than three years and there is no reason to maintain his arrest.
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