A four-judge panel of Brazil’s Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling today finding former Brazilian Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro guilty of lobbying foreign authorities —the United States government—to secure foreign sanctions against Brazilian institutions, specifically its judiciary and members of the Prosecutor General’s Office. The evidence presented to the panel included videos, social media posts, and interviews in which Eduardo brags of how he was in the United States to seek sanctions against the Brazilian court system, in order to free his father, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a military coup in 2022 after losing his reelection bid to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, inciting riots, and attempting to violently overthrow democracy.
Eduardo was sentenced in absentia to four years and two months in prison, because he has been living in the United States since February 2025, in order to build support from the Trump administration for his father’s release. The younger Bolsonaro has been requesting that the Trump administration impose sanctions on any judge involved in the rulings against his father, and for tariffs against Brazilian goods. He was also accused of “threatening judicial authorities and officials” after warning of US sanctions against Brazil “if the proceedings did not end” well for his father. In August 2025, President Trump imposed a 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports in protest for what he called the “witch hunt” against the older Bolsonaro, a political ally.
