The Federal Justice began the process to judge ten people accused by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF) in Pará for being part of a criminal scheme of clandestine extraction, document forgery, and illegal gold sales.
The decision – legally calledreceipt of the accusation– made entrepreneurs, pilots, and intermediaries involved in the negotiation of the ore extracted from clandestine mines in the Amazon, defendants.
In addition to initiating the criminal action, the Justice ordered the maintenance of the freezing of R$ 146.2 million in assets and financial assets of the accused, as well as the seizure of an aircraft used to transport the cargo.
Understand the scheme
The investigations that resulted in Operation Ricezione, launched on April 5, 2022, revealed an organized criminal structure to give a legal appearance to the gold extracted illicitly from União lands.
The group used registered companies, invoices with false data, and expired or unauthorized Mining Exploitation Permits (PLGs) to simulate the regular origin of the mineral.
With this documentary disguise, the illegally extracted mineral from Pará entered the formal market and was sent to buyers in Brazil and abroad.
Origin of the investigation
The case began after the São Paulo State Military Police (PMESP) and the Federal Police (PF) apprehended an aircraft at Campo de Marte Airport in São Paulo on August 20, 2021.
On that occasion, the pilots were transporting 52 kilograms of gold bars without fiscal documentation of origin. The cargo, valued at R$ 13.5 million, had been shipped from the Crepurizão district in Itaituba, Pará.
Fraud
The forensic analysis and satellite images confirmed that the areas indicated in the invoices issued by the investigated companies did not show signs of mineral extraction compatible with the volume sold.
Between 2019 and 2021, the group declared the production of more than 449 kilograms of gold, an amount equivalent to R$ 146.2 million, using ideologically false information regarding the origin of the precious metal.
Among the defendants who became plaintiffs in the case are company administrators, exporters' managers, business representatives, and the two pilots who were transporting the mineral.
Requests and compensation
In the indictment, the Public Ministry (MPF) points out that those involved committed crimes of usurpation of Union property, money laundering, qualified receiving, and participation in a transnational criminal organization.
The Public Ministry requests the condemnation of the defendants, the definitive loss of the seized gold, and the declaration of loss of the aircraft used in the illegal transport of the mineral.
The Public Ministry also requests that the Justice establish a minimum compensation value for the repair of the material and environmental damage caused by the clandestine activity.
Claims for collective compensation exceed R$ 83 million, divided among the operational centers of the criminal organization.
The defendants are being notified by the Justice to present a response to the accusation.
Criminal Case 1054947-82.2025.4.01.3900