The rise of Brazil’s fuel mafias and their gas station money laundering machines

Brazil’s federal police recently pulled back the curtain on a criminal web that had infiltrated the country’s fuel distribution chains. What looked like ordinary gas stations were, in fact, outposts of a vast laundering machine, washing dirty money with diesel and ethanol. According to Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, more than 1,000 service stations across the country were overseen by organised crime syndicates.

 

Read the full oped