Prosecutors charge Bolsonaro’s son over lobbying US for sanctions against Brazil
Brazil’s federal prosecutors have charged Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, with attempting to interfere in his father’s coup trial by lobbying the United States to impose sanctions on Brazil.
Prosecutors said Eduardo sought to “subordinate the interests of Brazil and of society to his own personal and family agenda”.
The accusation alleges that Eduardo threatened Supreme Court justices and officials by promising to secure U.S. sanctions that would “ruin their lives” unless the court blocked his father’s conviction. Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced earlier this month to 27 years in prison for plotting a coup after refusing to accept his 2022 election defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, a federal legislator, moved to the United States earlier this year and claimed credit for persuading Donald Trump’s administration to impose steep tariffs on Brazilian products. Prosecutors argue that his lobbying aimed to pressure Washington into influencing Brazil’s judiciary in favour of his father.
The case surfaced on the same day the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, his wife, and Brazil’s attorney general under the Magnitsky Act, accusing them of censorship and political persecution. The Lula government denounced the sanctions as an attack on Brazil’s judicial independence.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
