Brazilian Federal Police indicts former president of Panamericano.

The Federal Police have decided to criminally charge the former managing director of Banco Panamericano, Rafael Palladino, with money laundering and violating three articles of Law 7492/86, which defines crimes against the financial system. The Federal Police maintain that Palladino is "one of the leaders of the criminal organization" that caused a loss of R$ 4,3 billion to the institution.

Formally, the Federal Police (PF) attributes to the former head of the bank the crimes of fraudulent management of a financial institution (imprisonment from 3 to 12 years) and inducing or maintaining a partner, investor, or public agency in error regarding an operation or financial situation by withholding information or providing false information (imprisonment from 2 to 6 years). The PF also accuses Palladino of parallel movement of funds (1 to 5 years imprisonment).

The investigation into the Panamericano scheme shows that Palladino was allegedly conducting a money laundering operation by establishing two shell companies in the names of front men: Techno Brasil Indústria e Comércio de Fios e Cabos Especiais and Techno Plast Indústria e Comércio de Produtos Injetados. "The complex financial engineering devised by Rafael Palladino, using intermediaries, enabled the laundering of resources obtained illicitly when he was the manager of Panamericano," the Federal Police stated.

According to the Federal Police, Palladino played a decisive role in operations that caused a total loss of R$ 3,6 billion to Panamericano. Of this amount, R$ 1,6 billion resulted from the false accounting of accounts receivable – when, in fact, the contracts generating the receivables had already been assigned to other banks. A portion of the damage, amounting to R$ 1,7 billion, occurred due to the fraudulent omission of liabilities arising from the settlement of transactions. An additional R$ 500 million in losses relate to fraud in the establishment of the balance for the Provision for Doubtful Accounts.

The Federal Police condemn Palladino's conduct, stating that he "continues to monitor what happens at the bank to this day and meets, or attempts to meet, with former employees, aiming to unduly influence potential testimonies, among other illegal practices."