by TVT news
Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) allocated $40,800 (200,000 Brazilian reais) in congressional funding to a sports project on Rio de Janeiro’s militia-ridden West Side. The allocation was made following a request from Robson “the Fish” Calixto Fonseca. Fonseca was convicted and is currently serving a 9-year prison sentence for belonging to an organized crime group run by brothers Domingos and Chiquinho Brazão. This information was revealed to the public on Monday, September 21, in an article by investigative journalist Breno Pires in piauí magazine.
Family ties: Flavio Bolsonaro on the campaign trail with convicted Marielle Franco murderer Chiquinho Brazão. (photo: X)
According to Pires, the Federal Police have found five months worth of messages exchanged between the Fonseca and Maria de Fátima Bezerra Castro, a congressional aide in Flávio Bolsonaro’s Brasília office. These conversations primarily focused on an ongoing request for funds for a community association for help with a youth soccer project in Taquara, a lower-middle class neighborhood in Jacarepagua on Rio’s West side.
“Amiga, see if you can help us with our Senator,” Fonseca wrote in a message sent October 24, 2023. Four minutes later, the aide replied that he should submit the request by email or formal letter.
Two days later, the aide asked whether Fonseca was still working with federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão. He confirmed he was. She invited him to a ceremony in Flávio Bolsonaro’s Rio de Janeiro office, asked him bring Brazão with him and to make the request in person.
According to piauí, the Federal Police investigation report highlights this exchange of messages. It also highlights the instruction for Peixe to use the event to press for the funding.
Marielle Franco and driver Anderson Gomes were murdered in March 2018 in downtown Rio de Janeiro. In a 2026 trial before the Federal Supreme Court, brothers Domingos Brazão and Chiquinho Brazão were convicted as masterminds of the killing. Ronnie Lessa, the gunman, said in a plea bargain deal that Fonseca introduced him to the Brazão brothers. Lessa also said that Fonseca supplied the machine gun used in the assassinations.
$40,800 allocated for “soccer project”
Fonseca pressed the aide again on November 6, 2023, this time about funds for the José Carlos Procópio Vocational Training Institute (IFOP), which ran a soccer program called Players of the Future.
“Good morning, amiga, don’t forget about IFOP. See if the Senator can help us out so our project doesn’t end,” he wrote. The reply came back: “Consider it done.”
The institute received $40,800 on November 29 that year through Congressional Earmark No. 92190012-2023, authored by Flávio Bolsonaro. The payment was part of a larger $117,000 disbursement, of which $78,000 went to the Barra do Piraí municipal government.
Audit court found irregularities
The federal police report also reveals that Brazil’s federal audit court, the TCU, identified irregularities in how the institute spent the money.
Among the problems: IFOP hired a law firm to manage the books for the sports project whose director, José Rômulo Oliveira Alves, was also the institute’s president. He signed the contract on behalf of both parties.
The TCU flagged a possible conflict of interest, since the nonprofit’s director was managing public funds while also indirectly benefiting from the contract.
Auditors also found problems with the price quotes obtained for the project. There was no real public bidding process, as only one company placed a bid, despite having no experience in the contracted service.
IFOP told piauí that hiring outside staff is allowed under the regulatory framework for civil society organizations, and said it would contest the TCU’s findings.
Fonseca’s organized crime conviction
Robson “the Fish” Calixto Fonseca was a central figure in the murder investigation of socialist city councilwoman Marielle Franco (PSOL) and her driver, Anderson Gomes, in March 2018.
Ronnie Lessa, the gunman, testified under a plea deal that Fonseca introduced him to the Brazão brothers, who were convicted of ordering the murders. He also said that Fonseca gave him the submachine gun used in the killings. Fonseca has denied the accusations.
Fonseca was sentenced to nine years in prison in February 2026, for serving as an operational enforcer for the Brazão brothers’ armed criminal organization, alongside Edmilson da Silva Oliveira, known as Macalé. He also lost his pension as a retired military police officer.
During the trial, public prosecutors showed that Fonseca worked as a go-between for the Brazão brothers and paramilitary militias in the Jacarepaguá region.
Breno Pires suggests that the IFOP funding was not an isolated case. Citing an earlier federal police investigation reported by O Globo, he writes that Fonseca brokered congressional funding for an entire network of community organizations tied to the Brazão organized crime group.
piauí sought comment from Flávio Bolsonaro, Robson “the Fish” Calixto Fonseca and Maria de Fátima Bezerra Castro. None responded. IFOP said it never had direct contact with the senator, and that its advisers had pitched projects to multiple congressional offices.
This article first ran in TVT News, and can be read in its original Portuguese here.