Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro have always had loads in common. They’re both far right autocrats. They’re both former presidents who lost re-election. They both inspired fans to try to overturn their losses. They’re both under investigation for election interference. And they both have plenty of other legal woes. But where Trump might wind up in the clink for something major, Bolsonaro may finally get taken down for something real dumb.
As per The New York Times, the Brazilian ex-president is under investigation for a harebrained scheme involving selling embezzled watches at a mall outside of Philadelphia. Brazilian federal police are looking into a broad conspiracy by Bolsonaro and several allies to pawn expensive gifts he received when he was president from other countries.
In one case, a personal aide to Bolsonaro has been accused of selling a diamond Rolex watch and a Patek Philippe watch to a jewelry shop inside the Willow Grove Mall in Abington, Pennsylvania, outside of the City of Brotherly Love. Bolsonaro allegedly received at least some of the $68,000 they netted from the sale, which took place last year.
At stake is whether or not Bolsonaro was allowed to keep, much less sell, the watches. Brazilian law allows presidents to hang onto some gifts they receive if they’re of a personal nature. Expensive gifts, such as jewelry, are off-limits.
A government-appointed panel had ruled that Bolsonaro could keep most of the jewelry he’d received while in office. But the head of Brazil’s watchdog court said the panel was wrong and that the watches are state property. The judge overseeing the case even has evidence that suggests Bolsonaro may have ordered them to grant him the gifts.
There’s at least one strange hiccup in this case. Upon learning about the gifts earlier this year, the watchdog court ordered Bolsonaro to return it. One of his former lawyers then flew to Philadelphia and purchased the Rolex for $49,000. When asked about it last week, said lawyer denied having ever even seen the watch, telling news sites, “I dare you to prove it.”
They did, by publishing the receipt with his name on it. The lawyer then said Bolsonaro hadn’t told him to buy it.
As it happens, Trump has also been accused of failing to document gifts he received as president, which he later took with him after leaving office. But there is abig difference between Trump and Bolsonaro. After Bolsonaro spread false claims of election fraud, he was blocked from running for president for seven years. That, and only Bolsonaro has gotten into fights with Leonardo DiCaprio.
(Via NYT)