The flight that took Brazilian senator Flávio Bolsonaro and his family from Argentina to the United States cost $150,000, equivalent to about 816,000 Brazilian reais. The payment was made by an aviation-sector intermediary living in the United States, but the identity of the person who contracted the trip remains unknown, according to an investigation by Brazilian TV program Fantástico and comments given to Agence France-Presse by the aircraft operator’s owner.
The family travelled aboard a Gulfstream G400, registration LV-JQW, operated by Argentine company Baires Fly, which belongs to businessman Luis Grande. Grande said the money came from a company account at a US bank and was transferred to a bank in Argentina. He did not name the intermediary and said he did not know who the final client was.
US media have reported that Jason Miller, an adviser to President Donald Trump, arranged the trip. Flávio and his brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, had met Miller in the United States while Flávio was still a presidential pre-candidate. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that the US government had helped arrange Flávio’s departure, saying it had no direct role in the preparations or movements.
The jet departed from Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, near the Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaçu, and stopped in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to refuel before continuing to the United States. Flávio, his wife Fernanda and their two daughters arrived on Wednesday morning, January 28, at Opa-Locka Executive Airport in the Miami area.
Fantástico reported that the family travelled to Puerto Iguazú by separate routes. One account under investigation says Flávio left Brasília on Tuesday, January 27, aboard a plane linked to lawyer Willer Tomaz, landed near Buenos Aires and continued to Puerto Iguazú on another private flight. Fernanda and the couple’s daughters reportedly travelled from Brasília to Cascavel, in Paraná, before going by van to Argentina. Tomaz’s office denied that an aircraft belonging to him or companies linked to his family was used by Flávio or his relatives to leave Brazil.
Although Argentine migration records indicate that Flávio entered the country by land, the main line of inquiry cited in the report is that he arrived in Puerto Iguazú by plane and waited there for hours inside the aircraft until his family joined him. A report by Argentina’s Clarín newspaper also said US agents took control of part of Puerto Iguazú airport during the operation.
The family’s departure from Opa-Locka was followed by US television helicopters, and their cars travelled with a police escort. The escort ended in Pembroke Pines; the family’s final destination was not confirmed.
Flávio left Brazil after the Supreme Federal Court ordered him to hand his passports to the Federal Police. Baires Fly did not respond to Fantástico’s questions. Flávio’s lawyer, Frederick Wassef, said the information about the trip was not official or confirmed and denied that Flávio had fled the country.
Sources: G1.