Brazil court clears probe of Lula's son in cannabis case
A Brazilian Supreme Court justice authorized a preliminary corruption probe into President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s eldest son over a failed medical cannabis supply deal, injecting political risk ahead of October's election.
Justice André Mendonça authorized the Federal Police to investigate Fábio Luís Lula da Silva for suspected influence-peddling and corruption. The 51-year-old businessman, known as Lulinha, has not been charged and is presumed innocent as investigators enter the preliminary evidence-gathering stage.
The investigation centers on attempts to facilitate the supply of medicinal cannabis-based products to Brazil's public health system. Authorities suspect Fábio Luís and businesswoman Roberta Luchsinger lobbied on behalf of the firm World Cannabis, which is linked to lobbyist Antônio Carlos Camilo Antunes. According to a Federal Police witness, Luchsinger introduced the lobbyist to the president's son, though the proposed supply deal never materialized.
This new inquiry stems from a separate, much larger investigation involving the same lobbyist. Camilo Antunes currently faces criminal charges over the alleged diversion of 6.3 billion reais, equivalent to $1.24 billion, in deductions intended for retirees and pensioners. While Fábio Luís’s links to the lobbyist were examined in that file, he was not listed as a subject of the social security investigation.
The Federal Police requested the new investigation in late July. The initial duty justice, Alexandre de Moraes, sought an opinion from the Prosecutor General's Office, which found that banking secrecy disclosures revealed conduct separate from the social security case. That assessment led to the appointment of a new rapporteur, Justice Mendonça.
Fábio Luís's legal team strongly rejects the premise of the investigation. His lawyer, Guilherme Suguimori Santos, told Folha de São Paulo that "a fresh theory cannot be constructed to start over and stretch the matter until the elections." President Lula stated he would not intervene, saying on the podcast Inteligência Ltda that if accused, his son "will be treated as anyone's son, with no privilege."
The authorization arrives just weeks before Brazil's October 4 vote, with the official campaign period kicking off in mid-August. Lula is campaigning for a fourth term and holds a narrow lead in polls against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, whose father is imprisoned for a coup plot. For market participants, a high-profile corruption probe centered on the presidential family introduces a fresh layer of political risk heading into a tightly contested election.
