US-sanctioned Victor Shimada feared FBI scrutiny as Brazil fraud case exposed Pix-to-crypto laundering

Victor Henrique de Oliveira Shimada, 41, who was sanctioned by the US Treasury over alleged ties to the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), was heard worrying that “this will bring the FBI” after a Brazilian Federal Police operation. For payments teams, the useful part is not the crime-story theater; it is the mechanism: fraudulent Pix transfers, rapid conversion into crypto, and cross-border activity touching the US, Colombia, and Mexico.

1. In audio recordings taken from phones seized by the Federal Police, Shimada says that “things” in the United States had been “stuck,” including “accounts,” and adds: “This will bring the FBI, man. You understand? It’s not a joke. The guys are investigating heavily.” The recordings were obtained during an investigation into his activities.
2. The same audio also includes mentions of business in Colombia, Mexico, and the United States. Separately, Shimada is facing a case in the US over alleged involvement in a money-laundering scheme linked to drug trafficking.
3. Shimada was convicted in Brazil in connection with Operation Retorno Velado, launched by the Federal Police in December 2024. Prosecutors said the scheme executed 2.799 fraudulent Pix transfers in a single weekend in August 2024, diverting R$ 35 million from Banco Votorantim.
4. The funds were sent to the account of Shimada’s company, Victory Trading, which was also sanctioned by the US Treasury, and were then quickly converted into cryptocurrencies to make tracing harder. In practice, that is the part PSPs and acquirers care about: fast settlement, a fiat-to-crypto hop, and a trail that gets ugly very quickly.
5. Judge Massimo Palazzolo of the 4th Federal Criminal Court in São Paulo convicted Shimada of money laundering and set the sentence at five years in prison in a semi-open regime. He was acquitted of aggravated theft over the alleged hacker intrusion into the bank’s system.