Creating an offshore company to avoid paying Brazilian taxes
In the shadow of a global health emergency, a confiscated phone has illuminated what investigators believe to be an international scheme to profit from humanity's most urgent need. Messages recovered from a São Paulo military police officer reveal that he and a reverend leading a humanitarian organization discussed selling COVID-19 vaccines to governments in Latin America and Africa through layers of intermediary companies — some registered offshore to avoid taxation. The case raises enduring questions about what desperation does to the integrity of institutions, and who moves into the spaces created when systems fracture.
- A parliamentary inquiry into Brazil's pandemic response seized a police officer's phone and found evidence of an international vaccine sales network operating in the margins of a global health crisis.
- The scheme had at least two tracks: Sputnik V doses offered to Paraguay through a Brazilian pharmaceutical company, and AstraZeneca doses pitched to Angola and Honduras through a Florida-registered firm at $3.97 per dose.
- A reverend's humanitarian organization, Senah, appears to have been a central vehicle — with a formal letter sent to Honduras in February 2021 claiming 35 million doses held in an Indian factory, deliverable within eight business days.
- Discussions in the messages included creating an offshore company to evade Brazilian taxes, suggesting the operation was designed not just to sell vaccines but to obscure the money trail.
- Investigators have not yet confirmed whether any actual vaccine sales were completed, leaving open the question of whether this was a functioning black market or an elaborate fraud targeting desperate governments.
- The involvement of a police officer and a reverend running a humanitarian NGO points to a troubling exploitation of institutional trust at the precise moment that trust was most needed.
A phone seized by Brazil's COVID-19 parliamentary inquiry commission has opened a window onto what appears to be an international scheme to sell pandemic vaccines for private gain. The device belonged to Luiz Paulo Dominghetti Pereira, a São Paulo military police officer, and its messages — first reported by Folha de S. Paulo — reveal conversations between Dominghetti and reverend Amilton Gomes de Paula, who leads an organization called Senah, the National Secretariat of Humanitarian Affairs.
The operation, as described in the messages, ran along at least two parallel tracks. One involved offering Russian Sputnik V vaccines to Paraguay through a Goiás-based pharmaceutical company called Cifarma. The other centered on AstraZeneca doses being offered to the health ministries of Angola and Honduras through a Florida-registered company called Latin Air Support. A man identified as Serafim, representing Cifarma, and another called Renato, linked to Senah, discussed the logistics of the Paraguay deal — including the possibility of establishing an offshore company to shield the transactions from Brazilian taxation. Renato also claimed direct access to Paraguay's consul general in Rio de Janeiro.
Senah's role appears to have preceded the phone messages. In February 2021, the reverend sent a formal letter to the Honduran government offering AstraZeneca doses at $3.97 each, with delivery promised within eight business days and 35 million doses allegedly held at a factory in India.
What investigators cannot yet confirm is whether any of these offers resulted in actual transactions, or whether the vaccines being offered even existed. The messages establish intent and negotiation, but not necessarily delivery. Still, the picture they paint — a police officer, a reverend, a humanitarian NGO, offshore accounts, and foreign governments desperate for doses — suggests that the chaos of pandemic procurement created openings that some were willing to exploit, regardless of the human cost.
A military police officer's confiscated phone has revealed the outlines of an international vaccine sales operation that, if the messages are accurate, involved a reverend running a private humanitarian organization and a network of intermediaries offering COVID-19 doses to governments across Latin America and Africa.
The phone belonged to Luiz Paulo Dominghetti Pereira, a São Paulo military police officer whose device was seized by Brazil's COVID-19 parliamentary inquiry commission. Inside it, investigators found evidence that Dominghetti and Amilton Gomes de Paula, a reverend who leads an organization called Senah (National Secretariat of Humanitarian Affairs), had discussed selling vaccine doses to Honduras, Paraguay, and Angola. The messages, first reported by the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, paint a picture of a scheme that moved between different pharmaceutical intermediaries and foreign companies, each layer adding distance between the sellers and the actual source of the vaccines.
According to the messages, the operation had at least two distinct tracks. One involved offering Russian Sputnik V vaccines to Paraguay through a pharmaceutical company based in Goiás state called Cifarma. The other centered on AstraZeneca doses being pitched to the health ministries of Angola and Honduras through a company called Latin Air Support, registered in Florida. In the phone messages, a man identified as Serafim, representing Cifarma, and another businessman named Renato, said to be connected to Senah, discussed the mechanics of moving vaccines to Paraguay. Renato mentioned having direct access to Paraguay's consul general in Rio de Janeiro, Hernando Arteta Melgarejo, and at one point discussed the possibility of creating an offshore company to avoid paying Brazilian taxes on the transactions.
The Senah organization appears to have been the driving force behind at least some of these efforts. Months before the messages on Dominghetti's phone, the reverend had sent a formal letter to the Honduran government on February 25th. In it, he offered AstraZeneca vaccines at $3.97 per dose, with delivery promised within eight business days. The letter claimed that 35 million doses were available and were being held in custody at a factory in India, with Latin Air Support handling the supply arrangement from its Florida base.
The discovery raises immediate questions about the integrity of vaccine supply chains during a period when countries were desperate to secure doses and the global distribution system was fractured and chaotic. It also suggests potential criminal activity: the discussion of offshore companies to evade Brazilian taxes, the use of intermediaries to obscure the origin of vaccines, and the involvement of a police officer in what appears to be a commercial scheme all point toward conduct that authorities would likely view as illegal.
The investigation is still unfolding. What remains unclear is whether these offers ever resulted in actual vaccine sales, whether the doses being offered actually existed, or whether the entire operation was a scheme to extract money from governments under false pretenses. The messages alone show intent and discussion, but not necessarily execution. Still, the fact that a military police officer and a reverend running a humanitarian organization were discussing international vaccine sales through shell companies and foreign intermediaries during the height of the pandemic suggests that the desperation for vaccines created opportunities for those willing to exploit it.
Notable Quotes
Reverend Amilton offered AstraZeneca vaccines at $3.97 per dose with delivery promised within eight business days, claiming 35 million doses were available in Indian factories— Letter from reverend Amilton Gomes de Paula to Honduran government, February 25
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would a police officer be involved in vaccine sales at all? That seems like an odd position for someone in law enforcement to occupy.
He wasn't acting in any official capacity. He was essentially a middleman, using his connections and credibility to help facilitate deals. In a crisis like a pandemic, when governments are desperate and supply chains are broken, having someone with authority and access becomes valuable to people trying to move product.
And the reverend—was Senah a legitimate organization, or was it created specifically for this scheme?
The reporting doesn't say it was created for this purpose, but it does show that Senah was directly involved in the vaccine sales attempts. Whether it was a front or whether a legitimate humanitarian organization got pulled into something questionable, we don't know yet. But the organization was real enough to send official letters to foreign governments.
The offshore company discussion—what was that about?
One of the businessmen in the messages mentioned creating an offshore entity to avoid paying Brazilian taxes on the vaccine sales. It's a way to move money internationally without it being traceable or taxable in Brazil. It suggests they weren't just trying to make a sale; they were trying to hide the financial trail.
Do we know if any of these vaccines actually changed hands?
The messages show offers and discussions, but the reporting doesn't confirm that any actual sales occurred. It's possible these were just proposals that never materialized. But the fact that they were offering specific prices, specific quantities, and claiming access to specific factories suggests some level of seriousness.
What happens now?
The parliamentary inquiry commission has the phone. They're investigating. The next step would be determining whether laws were broken—whether this was fraud, tax evasion, or something else entirely. But the existence of these messages alone is enough to raise serious questions about who was trying to profit from vaccine desperation.