Overview
- In late July the Supreme Federal Court authorized three separate Federal Police investigations into Fábio 'Lulinha' Lula da Silva, assigning two to Justice André Mendonça and one to Justice Flávio Dino.
- The Prosecutor General urged that the cases move to first-instance courts but Mendonça decided to keep them at the STF on the grounds that other officials with judicial immunity could still emerge.
- Leaked parts of the sealed files and media reporting in August connected Lulinha to a lobista, Roberta Luchsinger, a failed proposal to sell 1.2 million cannabidiol medicine bottles to the Health Ministry and alleged payments to intermediaries.
- Lulinha and his lawyer deny any wrongdoing, have filed civil suits against opponents over AI videos, and there are no convictions because the investigations remain under secrecy and in the evidence-gathering phase.
- The disclosures have narrowed Lula’s polling advantage, shown in Datafolha results that keep him ahead but with a reduced margin, and have forced campaign shifts as the race to the October vote grows tighter.