Defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro has reportedly arrived in the United States. The BBC cited sources who said he travelled hours after Brazil cancelled his passports.
Brazil’s Supreme Court had ordered him to surrender his passports on Monday. The order is part of a money laundering investigation. He missed the 24-hour deadline, and authorities cancelled the documents on Tuesday. Bolsonaro has not been charged and denies the allegations.
Meeting in Florida
Sources told BBC Brasil and BBC Mundo that Bolsonaro met his younger brother, Eduardo, in Florida. His exact route from Brazil to the US remains unclear. It is also not known who travelled with him or whether he plans to stay.
The reported arrival followed a confirmation from a senior US official. The State Department would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family and allow them to enter the country. The BBC has asked the White House, the State Department and both embassies for comment. Neither brother could be reached.
Lawyers say they were unaware
On Monday, Bolsonaro said he had no plans to leave Brazil. He said he would stay to lead the opposition against President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
After he missed the deadline, his lawyers said they were “completely in the dark” about his whereabouts. One said the legal team knew nothing about the trip. Bolsonaro has made no public statement since a video post on Monday afternoon.
Federal officers also checked border crossings for signs that he went to Argentina. Argentine authorities told the BBC they had no record of him entering.
The investigations
Bolsonaro was already under investigation over the financing of a film about his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro. The elder Bolsonaro was convicted of plotting a coup and is under house arrest.
A separate inquiry links him to a Brazilian lawyer accused of laundering more than $1bn through a fraud scheme. Police said earlier this month that he had access to the bank accounts of a company the lawyer owns. Bolsonaro denies doing business with the lawyer. He calls the passport seizure an attempt at intimidation.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court also ordered police to examine his campaign over alleged foreign funding.
Election defeat
Lula beat the 45-year-old senator in Sunday’s run-off with 51.79% of the vote to 48.21%. Bolsonaro trailed by 4.4 million votes. He had been widely expected to win after topping the first round on October 4.
He has not conceded and wants the election annulled. He argues that a two-hour extension of voting disadvantaged him. A Supreme Court justice ordered the extension. Both his party and Lula’s had requested it. Bolsonaro called it a “dirty trick”.
His Liberal Party has accepted the result. It said, however, that the extension “merits investigation”.
