Brazilian lawyer moved $5 billion through betting platform, authorities say

Lawyer Willer Tomaz de Souza moved nearly $5 billion through betting platforms last year and withdrew almost $200 million from a single betting site, according to Finance Ministry documents obtained by UOL and Jota. He was the largest depositor among bettors, placing $258 million—double the amount of the second-ranked player. The funds moved through Blaze, a platform operated by Foggo Entertainment.

In 2025, the client placed more than 36,000 bets, recording total winnings of nearly $5 billion and accumulated losses of a similar amount. Of those, 140 individual bets each yielded winnings of at least $1 million, totaling more than $152 million. The client made 1,936 deposits averaging $133 thousand each, while withdrawals were spread across 3,408 operations averaging $58 thousand per withdrawal.

“The address overlap reduces the strength of a purely casual reading and justifies deepening the investigation into possible corporate, commercial, or operational links between the investigated party, former partners, and the structure responsible for betting activity.”

Specific withdrawal patterns included 1,629 withdrawals of exactly $100 thousand, 156 of exactly $500 thousand, 2,869 of exactly $50 thousand, and 12 of exactly $500 thousand. On October 30, 2025, four deposits of $500 thousand were made in one morning hour, five more in one afternoon hour, and four more in one evening hour, totaling $7 million in deposits in a single day. The following day, 12 withdrawals of $500 thousand were completed within 18 minutes, totaling $6 million.

A separate Federal Police cloud analysis linked to the lawyer’s phone found that Foggo Entertainment used the same commercial address at Alameda Prudente de Moraes, number 86, in the Mercês neighborhood of Curitiba. That address had previously been registered to companies tied to Willer Tomaz and his former partners, including RioPag S/A, a payment processor for the Rio de Janeiro state lottery.

The address analysis became possible after a court-authorized breach of secrecy following a search and seizure operation against the lawyer and businessman under Operation Sem Desconto, which investigates fraud at the National Social Security Institute. Investigators said the lawyer made various split and systematic bank transfers of $100 thousand to Foggo Entertainment’s account.

For investigators, the address overlap “reduces the strength of a purely casual reading and justifies deepening the investigation into possible corporate, commercial, or operational links between the investigated party, former partners, and the structure responsible for betting activity.” The Finance Ministry also flagged possible irregularities because the platform did not report suspicious movements to authorities under anti-money-laundering practices.