Brazilian court orders release of influencer Buzeira after 10 months in pretrial detention in Narco Bet case

Brazil’s Federal Court ordered the release of digital influencer Bruno Alexssander Souza Silva, known as Buzeira, on Monday (17), after 10 months in preventive detention. For anyone watching high-risk payments, the point is not the celebrity angle: the case ties alleged money laundering, offshore structures, crypto flows, and betting brands into one investigation.

1. The decision came from the Fifth Panel of the court, according to the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd Region (TRF-3). Buzeira had been held since October 2025 while being investigated in Operação Narco Bet.
2. He is being investigated for money laundering and criminal organization. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) also says he faces other criminal actions related to drug trafficking, criminal association, money laundering, and illegal gambling operations.
3. TRF-3 said the release was conditioned on precautionary measures, but did not specify what those measures are. So, on paper he is out; in practice, the court has still left restrictions in place.
4. In a statement, Buzeira’s defense, represented by lawyers Eugênio Carlo Balliano Malavasi and Lucas Gabriel Ruivo Ferreira, welcomed the habeas corpus decision. The defense said the facts in the MPF complaint will be clarified through due process and declined to comment further because the case is under judicial secrecy.
5. The new complaint alleges that the group formed a criminal organization aimed at laundering money, evading foreign exchange controls, and hiding funds through sports betting companies, international operations, offshore structures, and cryptocurrency movements. The MPF says Buzeira was the alleged financier, hidden controller, and ultimate economic beneficiary of the betting brands BRXBET and RICOBET.

For PSPs, acquirers, and banks, the useful detail is the structure alleged by prosecutors: betting brands, offshore entities, cross-border flows, and crypto rails all in the same file. The MPF also says Buzeira had direct participation in strategic decisions and operations linked to the platforms, even though he did not appear formally in the companies’ ownership records.