Flavio Bolsonaro Flees Brazil For US After Election Defeat Amid Probe

Reported by: Roshni Majumdar with AP, AFP | Edited by: Alex Berry and Wesley Dockery

Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro has left the country for the United States after he was defeated in Sunday's presidential election, Folha de S.Paulo and Reuters reported, citing sources close to the senator.

The US State Department will issue visas to Flavio Bolsonaro and his family to allow them to enter the US, a senior State Department official told Reuters and other news agencies.

Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who secured the runoff victory in elections, told supporters outside the presidential residence in Brasilia on Tuesday that Bolsonaro had left the country, but he didn't have information about Bolsonaro's exact whereabouts.

Brazil is "the second country" of the Bolsonaro family, Lula added.

"The first is licking American boots," the reelected president said. "Those who are not liable do not fear. A fellow that secretly leaves his country, that's because he is liable for something."

Bolsonaro wasn't allowed to leave Brazil

The Supreme Court had asked Flavio Bolsonaro, the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, to surrender his passports to stop him from leaving the country amid investigations into the senator.

It was reported that Bolsonaro had refused to comply with the order, although other reports contradicted this.

The AFP news agency cited a police official as saying that Bolsonaro's passports had been cancelled and there was no official record of him leaving the country.

Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported that Bolsonaro's plane was scheduled to land in either Miami or Dallas.

How did Bolsonaro exit Brazil?

Argentine news outlet Infobae reported earlier today that Bolsonaro had crossed into Argentina to board a plane to the US.

A spokesperson for Argentina's Ministry of Security denied the reports that the conservative Brazilian senator had entered the country.

Brazilian media reports earlier said that the federal police were still searching for him.

Bolsonaro leaves Brazil after losing presidential election: What to know

Bolsonaro lost Brazil's presidential election runoff on Sunday after an incredibly tight voting count through the evening until his challenger, Lula, surged ahead.

Bolsonaro had initially said he would seek to annul the election results, citing alleged irregularities.But Bolsonaro's Liberal Party on Tuesday acknowledged the results.

In a video on Instagram on Monday, Bolsonaro said he had been served with a Supreme Court order to hand over his passports so he couldn't leave the country.

He had said he was planning to hand over his passports, but reports on Tuesday said the deadline had passed leading to their cancellation.

What are the investigations against Flavio Bolsonaro about?

The senator has been accused of laundering money through a sports betting company, money that was deducted from government pensions to senior citizens.

A second investigation is looking into Bolsonaro's connections to a disgraced banker from whom he allegedly accepted millions of dollars to finance the biopic about his father, titled "Dark Horse."

Bolsonaro loses his immunity from prosecution once his Senate term comes to end in February 2027. He has denied wrongdoing in both cases.

Bolsonaro asked to surrender passports: What to know

Bolsonaro said that he had received the Supreme Court order outside the home where his father, Jair Bolsonaro, is under house arrest.

He said the order was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the same judge who sentenced his father to prison.

He also pointed to comments made by his brother, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who said on a podcast last week that his sibling should leave the country if he lost the election.

Eduardo, who lives in the US, was convicted in absentia in June of illegally lobbying the Trump administration. He was sentenced to four years in prison and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Disclaimer: This report first appeared on Deutsche Welle, and has been republished on ABP Live as part of a special arrangement. Apart from the headline, no changes have been made in the report by ABP Live.