Find out who Dario Messer is, the money changer who appears on Bolsonaro’s hand in the JN

Dario Messer, one of the notes in the hand of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) during an interview with Jornal Nacional, from Rede Globo, this Monday (22), is the name of one of the biggest money changers in the country.

Known as “money money changer”, Messer has already been convicted of the crimes of evasion of currency and money laundering. The last one occurred in the process of Operation Marakata, an offshoot of Lava Jato in Rio de Janeiro.

He was arrested by the Federal Police in July 2019 after being on the run for a year. Messer was appointed as the mentor of a currency evasion and money laundering scheme that moved more than BRL 5 billion between 2011 and 2017, involving more than 3,000 offshore companies in 52 countries.

Messer was also investigated by the MPF (Federal Public Ministry) on suspicion of controlling the Evergreen bank (EVG) in Antigua and Barbuda, in the Caribbean, which mixed legal and illegal businesses.

He became a fugitive in 2018 after Operation Câmbio, Desligo, which targeted the activities of six dozen money changers and their employees in the country.

Messer even rehearsed a plea bargain with federal prosecutors in 2017 and 2018, which did not come to fruition, as he refused to stay even one day in prison.

In 2020, he began to serve house arrest with an ankle bracelet, as determined by the Superior Court of Justice.

In August of the same year, after his whistleblower agreement was approved by the Justice, the money changer was released by order of Judge Marcelo Bretas, but he remains prohibited from leaving the country and from keeping in touch with other defendants.

Messer’s defense declined to comment on a conviction of the money changer in August 2020. Sheet unable to locate his current attorney.

Despite being part of Bolsonaro’s list of notes, Messer’s name was not mentioned during the interview with JN. In addition to the money changer, the president also wrote down three other words: “Nicaragua”, “Argentina” and “Colombia”, following the same strategy used in 2018.

One of the hypotheses for him to have noted the name of the money changer is a statement made by Messer, in June 2020, in a plea bargain. The money changer claimed to have transferred dollars in cash to the Marinho family, owner of Grupo Globo, according to a report in Veja magazine in August of the same year.

In a statement issued at the time, the owners of the station denied Messer’s accusations and stressed that the money changer did not present evidence.

“Regarding the news published about Dario Messer’s whistleblowing, we have come to clarify that Roberto Irineu Marinho and João Roberto Marinho do not have, nor have they ever had, undeclared accounts to Brazilian authorities abroad. Brazilians”, stated the note.