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🇧🇷 Brazil /Crime & Justice

Audio shows São Paulo tax inspector planned sauna to launder bribe money

From Estadão · () Portuguese

Translated from Portuguese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Under investigation
  • Tax inspector André Weiss, arrested in Operation Caldarium, allegedly discussed buying a sauna in São Paulo to launder illicit money through cash payments.
  • Prosecutors say Weiss received 4.5 million reais in bribes delivered in backpacks during meals at restaurants in the Pinheiros district.
  • The recordings came from files recovered from the cellphone of another tax official who allegedly helped run a large bribery scheme.

André Weiss allegedly saw a sauna as a way to make illicit money look legitimate. In an audio recording obtained by prosecutors, the São Paulo state tax inspector discussed buying one because customers would usually pay in cash.

"You know I thought about taking money and buying a damn sauna in São Paulo, to hold meetings. I thought about it and said, let's pool some money and get a damn sauna, right? And it's also good for laundering," Weiss said during a lunch with state tax colleagues on July 27, 2023. He then asked how many people enter saunas and pay in cash, answering that almost everyone does. "Who is going to pay by card at a sauna? Nobody," he said.

You know I thought about taking money and buying a damn sauna in São Paulo, to hold meetings. I thought about it and said, let's pool some money and get a damn sauna, right? And it's also good for laundering.

· André WeissThe tax inspector allegedly discussed buying a sauna during a recorded lunch in 2023.

Weiss was arrested on Sept. 3 in Operation Caldarium. Prosecutors suspect him of receiving 4.5 million reais in bribes packed into backpacks during lunches and dinners at restaurants in Pinheiros, in western São Paulo. The operation's name refers to the hot bathing room in ancient Roman baths.

How many people enter a sauna and pay in cash? Almost everyone, man.

· André WeissWeiss allegedly argued that a sauna could handle cash payments.

The recording was made by tax inspector Artur Gomes da Silva Neto, known as King, whom prosecutors describe as a central figure in a billion-real bribery scheme affecting sensitive areas of the São Paulo tax authority. Prosecutors recovered the audio from King's cellphone files. He was arrested last year in Operation Icarus and confessed to devising a system that allegedly gave major retail and wholesale companies early access to inflated tax-credit reimbursements in exchange for illicit benefits.

Weiss discussed the sauna less than a month before prosecutors say he received his first bribe from Paulo Sérgio Siqueira do Prado, known as PP. Prado reached a plea agreement with prosecutors in July. The Public Prosecutor's Office said the recording captured Weiss describing, in his own words, a money-laundering method. Estadão said it was seeking comment from his defense.

Who is going to pay by card at a sauna? Nobody.

· André WeissThe recording captured Weiss explaining why he believed a sauna could conceal illicit funds.
About this summary

Originally published by Estadão in Portuguese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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