Justice Rogerio Schietti Cruz of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) upheld the decision of Judge Marcelo Bretas, of the Lava Jato Rio investigation, and placed the "money launderer of money launderers" Dario Messer under house arrest. The suspension of the temporary detention of the "Câmbio, Desligo" prisoner sparked a legal battle that began in the Supreme Court and descended to the lower courts.
The case reached the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) after Judge Abel Gomes of the Regional Court of the 2nd Region (TRF-2) overturned Bretas' decision, which authorized Messer's return home. The judge highlighted the "logistical and financial capacity" of the money launderer, who had been on the run for months using "false documents" and sending "significant amounts of cash" before his capture last July in São Paulo.
Investigated in the "Câmbio, Desligo" (Exchange, Turn Off), an offshoot of Operation Car Wash Rio, Messer is a defendant for crimes against the financial system. The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office accuses the money launderer of running a "grandiose scheme" involving the movement of illicit funds in Brazil and abroad through "dollar-cabo" (cable-dollar) transactions—a foreign currency purchase and sale in which the money launderer asks the client to deposit the amount in reais into their account and then transfer the converted amount from another account abroad. This mechanism circumvents financial oversight controls.
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