WASHINGTON — Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) Brian E. Nelson traveled to Brasília and São Paulo, Brazil from August 15-18, 2022 to discuss illicit finance priorities including drug trafficking, terrorist financing, and environmental crimes, as well as regional economic issues and the global effects of Russia’a further invasion of Ukraine. This was the first visit of an Under Secretary for TFI to Brazil.
In Brasília, Under Secretary Nelson met with Central Bank Governor Roberto Campos Neto; Executive Secretary of Justice & Public Security Antonio Ramirez Lorenzo; Ambassador Michel Arslanian, Secretary for the Americas at the Ministry of External Relations; President Ricardo Liao of Brazil’s Financial Intelligence Unit, COAF; and the Federal Police’s Director for Organized Crime Caio Pellim and Director for Intelligence and Counter Terrorism Alessandro Moretti. He highlighted the importance of bilateral engagement to address corruption, particularly in the logging and mining sectors, as well as disrupting the financial infrastructure of the US-designated criminal organization the Primero Capital Command (PCC). He also discussed efforts to mitigate the spillover effects of Russia’s war against Ukraine, including technical work toward a price cap on Russian oil to lower global energy prices and restrict Putin’s revenue.
In São Paulo, Under Secretary Nelson convened a roundtable with civil society to hear about their work combatting nature crimes and its nexus to both organized crime and public corruption. He also met with the State Attorney General’s Office to discuss Treasury’s sanctions on the PCC, as well as further ways to stem the organization’s illicit financial flows. Finally, Under Secretary Nelson met with the Brazilian Banking Federation (FEBRABAN) to discuss sanctions compliance.