Lottery shop identified as a money laundering operation for an alleged robotics kit scheme has closed its doors.

A lottery shop in Brasília, identified as a money laundering operation for an alleged fraud scheme involving the purchase of robotics kits for public schools, has closed its doors after becoming the target of a Federal Police investigation. Located in the center of the federal capital, the establishment was the target of a search and seizure warrant last Thursday. However, agents found the doors closed, according to Globo Online.

The lottery shop has been inactive for at least three months, according to neighbors. Shortly before, the betting shop was fully operational, being used by a couple suspected of handling cash and withdrawing amounts that caught the attention of investigators.

Given this suspicion, the Federal Police monitored the couple's routine for seven months. According to the investigation, they frequently went to the lottery shop in Brasília, usually entering at the end of the workday with an empty backpack through the area reserved for employees and leaving with a full bag.

The establishment was the target of a search and seizure warrant.

According to investigators, companies owned by the couple made unusual transfers to the lottery outlet, where cash withdrawals were then made in fragmented amounts to avoid attracting the attention of the authorities. A report from the Federal Police indicates that 34 transactions were made with the establishment, totaling R$ 2,4 million.

Upon analyzing these transactions, the Council for the Control of Financial Activities (Coaf), an agency that combats money laundering, found that the lottery outlet "may function as a money laundering mechanism for the illicit sums moved by the couple's companies," whose defense denies any wrongdoing.

According to the Federal Police, the atypical financial transactions show evidence that the couple acted as operators of a "considerable and extensive money laundering scheme in several states of the Federation, concealing and disguising assets, rights and values ​​derived from criminal practices committed by various criminal groups, with or without connection to each other."

This suspicion by the Federal Police is based on surveillance work carried out by agents who followed and filmed the couple in different locations across the country. After making withdrawals at lottery outlets, the suspects went to luxury hotels, gas stations, parking lots, and steakhouses to meet with intermediaries. Investigators suspect that cash deliveries were made in at least six different cities.

The couple came under investigation after their companies caught the attention of authorities for receiving "substantial sums" from a supplier of robotics equipment for public schools in municipalities in Alagoas. The contracts are suspected of being overpriced, according to the Federal Police.

After following the money trail, investigators discovered that the alleged scheme caused a loss of R$ 8,1 million to the coffers of the National Fund for the Development of Education (FNDE), linked to the Ministry of Education (MEC). The supplier of the robotics kits charged as much as R$ 14 per piece of equipment after buying it for R$ 2.700. The company denies any wrongdoing. The case remains under investigation.