The doleiro of the doleiros was convicted of the crime of money laundering. The prison sentence imposed in the first instance was confirmed, but a fine of 4 million reais (US$769,230) was not.
The Brazilian media Globo reported that Dario Messer was sentenced in the second instance by the Federal Justice, in an initial closed regime, for the crime of money laundering. The conviction was this Wednesday, in the process of Operation Marakata, a branch of Lava Jato in Rio.
Messer continues to be charged in at least 5 more criminal proceedings in Lava Jato. The money changer was arrested in May 2018, along with others under investigation at the Operação Câmbio Desligo, but remained a fugitive until he was arrested in July 2019.
By order of the Superior Court of Justice, since April 2020, he has been in prison in a closed home regime with an electronic ankle bracelet, for falling into the risk group for Covid-19. The STJ decision determines that he remains under house arrest until the end of the pandemic.
Messer’s plea agreement establishes that the money changer will be held in a closed regime for the first 3 years of his sentence, counted from his arrest in Lava Jato, on July 31, 2019. Consequently, as of August of this year, Messer will now be able to leave the house without judicial authorization.
In Wednesday’s sentence, the judges of the 1st class of the Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region (TRF-2) accepted the request of Messer’s defense to deduct the fine provided for in the sentence of first instance, of 4 million reais (US$769,230), of the total already returned by the moneychanger in his plea agreement, of almost 1 billion reais (US$192,307,692,307).
That is to say: in practice, you will not have to pay anything more. Dario Messer’s defense refused to comment on the moneychanger’s conviction.
