PF investigates 549 dead people’s CPFs in FX operations linked to bets

Brazil’s Federal Police says records used in foreign exchange transactions tied to alleged money laundering included CPF numbers belonging to 549 deceased people, some dead for more than 20 years. For PSPs and acquirers, the important part is not the oddity factor; it is that the fraud trail ran through FX authorization and payment infrastructure, with the COAF and Anspace already in the loop.

1. According to the representation filed with the Federal Court, financial movement documents linked to alleged money laundering in a tax haven contained records associated with dead people. The names tied to the CPF numbers were reportedly changed after an alert sent to the Conselho de Controle de Atividades Financeira (COAF) by the ACAM system, which authorizes foreign currency purchases.
2. Even after the irregularities were identified and Anspace, the payment institution most used by the Pixbet group, was notified, the CPFs remained in the transactions. The PF says the use of those CPFs gave third parties already deceased a false identity in unauthorized FX operations, with the aim of facilitating evasion of foreign exchange controls.
3. The PF document also says it is not known how the records of the deceased people were used, but there are signs that the company was not a victim of fraudulent operations, and instead acted as an active participant in the documentation fraud. That distinction matters for PSPs: this is not just file hygiene gone wrong, but a potential ongoing control failure.
4. The case is part of Operação Arena, which targets a business group suspected of using the corporate and financial structure of a company abroad to conceal the origin and destination of funds from illegal gambling and sports betting. The operation involves the Federal Police, the Ministério Público da Paraíba (MPPB), and Receita Federal.
5. Pixbet’s defense told g1 it had not seen the court order authorizing the operation and was “caught by surprise.” The defense said it would comment once it has access to the decision. The lawyer representing Nelson Wilians said his client’s law firm relationship with PixBet is “strictly professional” and limited to legal services.

Police say the betting proceeds were sent abroad through financial compensation companies and then received by a shell company with no employees or business activity, registered in Curaçao. The suspects may face charges including foreign exchange evasion, money laundering, and other crimes against Brazil’s national financial system.