By Alice Maciel, Maria Martha Bruno & Laura Scofield
Based in Florida and facing federal charges in Brazil, influencer Paulo Figueiredo is working closely with Eduardo Bolsonaro. The pair are lobbying the Trump administration to invoke the Magnitsky act and apply sanctions on Alexandre de Moraes and other justices of Brazil’s Supreme Court.
This article was published (in Portuguese) by Agência Pública. You can read the original here.
‘I open the door. I am the heart, but you are the brain,’ said Eduardo Bolsonaro, told influencer Paulo Figueiredo in a video on 27 May on Figueiredo’s YouTube channel. The statement refers to the actions both have been taking in the United States to push for sanctions against Brazilian authorities and institutions. ‘You, Paulo, have contributed a lot,’ gushed Jair Bolsonaro’s son.
Paulo Figueiredo Show – Ep. 152 – Com participação de Eduardo Bolsonaro, 27 May 2025.
Grandson of the dictatorship president
Paulo Figueiredo is the grandson of General João Figueiredo, the last president of Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964-1981). He is also a former business partner of Donald Trump, and a member of the most radical wing of Bolsonarism. Figueiredo has become Eduardo Bolsonaro’s main ally in the international campaign against Brazilian Supreme Court justices, especially Alexandre de Moraes, who leads the case against former president Jair Bolsonaro for an attempted coup d’etat.
In March 2024, Figueiredo admitted on his YouTube channel that he began visiting the US Congress right after the 2022 presidential elections ‘in search of support.’ Figueiredo is campaigning in the US against the Brazilian Supreme Court while also being under investigation in Brazil for spreading fake news. He has also been formally charged by the Attorney General’s Office for attempting a coup, with an application for pretrial detention still pending. The cases against Figueiredo are under the oversight of Justice Moraes.
Eduardo Bolsonaro, meanwhile, is under investigation for coercion and obstruction of justice after the Attorney General’s Office accused him of trying to interfere in the criminal case against his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro, and ‘disrupting the technical work’ of the fake news case.
The Congressman took a leave of absence from office on March 20, 2024, after deciding to live in the US for an indefinite period. He is currently based in Texas.
Rubio on side
The request to investigate the son of former president Bolsonaro came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated during a hearing in the Capitol on 21 May that he was considering applying sanctions against Justice Alexandre de Moraes under the Magnitsky Act.
The statement was made in response to a question from Republican Representative Cory Mills about the possible application of the act, which provides for economic sanctions against individuals involved in human rights violations or corruption.
‘Would you consider sanctioning Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes under the Magnitsky Act?’ Mills asked. Rubio replied: ‘That is under review, and there’s a strong possibility that it could happen.’
Pública asked Figueiredo how a possible US move against Brazil’s judiciary might affect the cases he faces. ‘There is no impact whatsoever, as I’m not responding to any charges,’ he stated.
‘I have not been formally charged in any case and have only learned of the accusations through the media, which already demonstrates a lack of due process. I have been legally residing and conducting my activities in the US for over ten years, at an address known to Brazilian authorities, and I await formal service of charges following international treaties in effect. The repeated violation of US jurisdiction by Justice Moraes – through illegal orders against individuals protected by that jurisdiction – is precisely one of the grounds for our actions in pursuit of international sanctions.’
The meeting that preceded the speech against Moraes
One week before the hearing, Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) – who chairs the Intelligence and National Security Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee – had met with Paulo Figueiredo, Eduardo Bolsonaro, and Congressman Filipe Barros, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Brazil’s parliament. ‘This kind of interaction brings real-world results, it’s not just words,’ said Eduardo Bolsonaro in a video after the meeting, on 14 May.
He also emphasized Mills’ close relationship with Rubio, anticipating what would be said in the May 21 hearing. ‘It’s worth noting that he [Mills] is someone who engages with the executive branch here in the US. It won’t take long for him to meet the right people, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio,’ he said. ‘I was truly impressed because it was a very objective meeting. And Mills is a congressman familiar with the situation in Brazil, which just goes to show that all this painstaking work, knocking on people’s doors, is already paying off,’ added Paulo Figueiredo in the video.
A week later, Rubio again referred to possible sanctions that could affect Brazil, although he did not mention the country by name. On X, he referred to Latin America, stating that in the region, ‘in Europe, or anywhere else, the days of passive attitudes toward those who work to undermine the rights of Americans are over.’
The same day, in an official statement, he went further: ‘Today I am announcing a new visa restriction policy that will apply to foreign nationals responsible for censoring protected expression in the United States. It is unacceptable for foreign authorities to issue or threaten to issue arrest warrants against US citizens or residents for social media posts made on American platforms while physically present on US soil.’
Together in the U.S. Against Brazil
On the same day that Mills and Rubio mentioned the possibility of applying the Magnitsky Act against Justice Moraes, Brazilian Congressman Filipe Barros suggested on social media that Rubio’s outburst during the hearing was the result of team work by the Bolsonarists.
However, in an interview with Agência Pública, Barros stated that he was ‘convinced’ that Rubio’s remarks were motivated by decisions made by Moraes that affected US citizens and companies. ‘It’s not a reaction to the 8 January investigation. It’s a reaction to the violations Justice Moraes committed against the rights of American citizens and businesses.’
According to Barros, in the meetings he attended with Mills and with representative Brian Mast (R-FL), ‘the overall political context’ was discussed. ‘And I noticed in both conversations their concern was with [violations of] US jurisdiction.’
Pública also found that Filipe Barros, with a delegation of Brazilian lawmakers from the Free Market Parliamentary Front, who were also in the US in early May, met with representatives from SpaceX, the company owned by Elon Musk.
According to a source who participated in the meeting but requested anonymity, there was strong indignation among the Americans present: ‘They’re furious because the Brazilian Supreme Court hit them in the pocket, and they’re not going to let it go. That was the tone of the meeting,’ the source reported, referring to the freezing of US $3.32 million from the accounts of Starlink and X (formerly Twitter) for noncompliance with Brazilian court orders.
According to this source, while the work of Eduardo Bolsonaro and Paulo Figueiredo carries some influence, ‘the main concern of the US government is, in fact, the defense of big techs affected by Moraes’ rulings.’
Heir to Olavo de Carvalho
The idea of using US legislation against Moraes echoes a suggestion from the Brazilian far-right ideological guru Olavo de Carvalho, who died in 2022. On 26 August 2020, Carvalho wrote on X: ‘The Magnitsky Act is the greatest or only hope for a Brazil free from commie-thieves.’
Just over four years later, Figueiredo said in one of his YouTube videos that he is ‘absolutely thrilled to be carrying forward the ideas of Professor Olavo de Carvalho.’
‘Do you think Olavo died? Olavo didn’t die – Olavo lives through us,’ he emphasized.
Figueiredo follows a similar path. Like his mentor, he first gained visibility through mainstream media. While Carvalho began by writing columns for major Brazilian newspapers like Folha de S. Paulo, Figueiredo spent years on the right-oriented radio Jovem Pan network.
According to the charges filed by Brazil’s Attorney General’s Office in the coup plot case, Figueiredo used his platform at Jovem Pan and on social media to pressure the Brazilian Army’s leadership to support the coup.
Figueiredo currently hosts a political show on YouTube. He has lived in the US since 2016 and is currently based in Florida. Olavo de Carvalho lived in the US for 17 years. Following in his mentor’s footsteps, Figueiredo also sells a course on politics and history aligned with far-right ideas, which was offered to seven pro-Bolsonaro congressmen just before Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025.
