Nelma Kodama: The Queen of Dirty Money (2024)

[bunniefuu]

Nelma Kodama

was an enabler.

You could just call her,

and the problem would be solved.

My high point wasn't getting to the end,

where no woman had ever gotten.

It was getting there with style.

NELMA KODAMA:

THE QUEEN OF DIRTY MONEY

Did I break the law?

What is "breaking the law"?

Black-market dollar dealers are the law.

The law of their own bank.

They don't abide

by the Central Bank's rules.

It's all about honor codes,

character, your word...

When I sat at my desk

and started taking calls,

it was like conducting an orchestra.

What a beautiful thing.

You're buying and selling currency.

You don't know who is on the other end,

however, that person trusts

that you will deliver.

It's called "white-collar crime"

for a reason.

You can always seem cleaner

than you really are.

Dollar dealer Nelma Kodama was

the first arrest in Operation Car Wash.

She was arrested while trying

to travel to Italy with 200,000 euros

hidden in her underwear.

How could Beethoven play?

Or Mozart?

How did they do it?

She was convicted of corruption,

organized crime, and currency evasion.

She's the one who sang

"Amada Amante," remember?

That iconic moment of her singing

with some congressmen singing along.

It's like a banana republic.

Her understanding of a crime is different,

but financial crimes are still crimes.

And she also posted on social media

when she took her own ankle monitor off.

At the ruling, the judge stated

that she had done a disservice

to Brazilian society...

It's unacceptable.

You can't trust anything she says.

Behind every fortune, there is a crime.

There is money laundering,

there is a dollar dealer,

there is a Nelma.

At the fringes of politics,

there is a whole ecosystem

to keep dirty money flowing.

Because of corruption,

the need to pay bribes...

JOURNALISAND AUTHOR OF "THE ORGANIZATION"

...distribute ill*gal advantages,

there is a whole ecosystem

of black-market dollar dealers

and financial operators

who work to circulate this money

in this underworld under the law's radar.

There's the term "operator."

JOURNALIST, FOUNDER OF PODER360

In Pulp Fiction,

there's The Cleaner, who fixes things.

She was a type of "cleaner"

for congressmen

and for some dollar dealers.

The enabler may seem secondary,

but they are absolutely key

because they connect the dots and close

the loop of criminal transactions.

Life is a game.

I go all in.

If I win, I win it all.

If I lose, I lose it all.

Doing things by halves is no fun.

SO PAULO

BRAZIL

When I earned my first million dollars,

I was less than 30 years old.

I'd say, "I'm a millionaire."

Soon after, I lost three million dollars.

I woke up saying,

"I'm going to k*ll myself."

Because the problem

isn't losing what you earned.

It's losing what's not yours.

Can you imagine?

"Dollar dealer loses three million

and throws herself in a dumpster."

That wouldn't suit me.

I said, "No, I'm better than that."

"If I lost three,

it's because I can make three."

I took a shower.

I put on my best Chanel perfume,

and I said,

"I'm good to go."

"I'm capable of making three, four, five."

Welcome.

Welcome to my home.

I built every detail in this place.

Every detail carries my personality,

my taste, my soul, my life, and my work.

Speaking of work,

this is my desk.

This is a desk

that I bought at an antique store,

and I brought it to Brazil.

I bought all my furniture in Italy.

I was dead set on knocking down walls

because I like

the spaciousness, the freedom.

"Hey, dollar stealer! Dollar stealer!"

I say, "No, it's dollar dealer."

- Hey, dollar stealer!

- Hey, what's up?

Dollar dealer.

That title follows me around.

On the days before coming to prison,

my name was mentioned

on the radio every day.

"Brazil's biggest dollar dealer is coming

to the Mata Escura complex."

The journalist would say,

"If she gets her hands on a phone,

she'll take over the yard."

"She'll take over the prison."

I love shoes.

The leather,

the subtlety,

the design of the heels.

I'm sure I could wear a different pair

every day for over a year.

I had seven cars.

One for each day of the week.

Seven.

Oh, jewelry.

That's my weakness.

Jewelry, jewelry, jewelry.

Even the word sparkles. "Jewels."

I think a woman without jewelry

is a naked woman.

I never made plans.

But I always had a plan.

Does that make sense?

LINS SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY

NELMA MITSUE PENASSO KODAMA

I'm a dentist.

I wanted my financial freedom...

to set up my practice...

buy a two-bedroom apartment...

drive an imported car

and make $5,000 a month.

That's what I wanted.

So that was a plan.

My family owned a slaughterhouse

and a butcher shop in Diadema.

And all of a sudden, I started working

on the financial side of things.

At the time, we worked with hot money,

which was money borrowed

from one day to the next.

I'd take out the loan to buy dollars.

Then my manager said,

"Nelma, I'll introduce you to a currency

exchange office in Santo Andr."

She said, "Ask for Csar."

Csar was actually Jlio Csar Emlio,

Norma Regina Emlio's brother.

She was a Federal Revenue agent,

married to Joo Carlos da Rocha Mattos,

a federal judge.

I became a VIP client.

One day, I was there and I said,

"I'll have dinner with this guy."

"He might be interesting.

He's a dollar dealer."

That's how my relationship

with him started.

And how I started

my craft as a dollar dealer.

From girlfriend

to black-market dollar dealer.

It happened very fast.

I had never worked

with this kind of market

of buying and selling dollars.

And I was just supposed

to answer the phone.

I couldn't trade. Especially because

I didn't know how to trade.

The dollar was always rising.

Jlio would yell,

"The dollar is at one real!"

"Now, it's at 1,20

and selling at 1,60!"

So I started to get it, and I said,

"This business is kind of cool."

Rocha Mattos was arrested

by the Federal Police in 2003,

accused of participating

in a scheme that included

the sale of court sentences.

NOVEMBER 2003

He was in trouble

with a well-known operation,

"Operation Anaconda."

The investigation points to 59 people

involved in extortion, document forgery,

the sale of court sentences,

and influence peddling.

He ran a scheme that facilitated

the sale of legal services.

PUBLIC PROSECUTOR FOR SO PAULO STATE

This money had to be hidden in some way.

That was the first time we heard

that a woman was involved

in this money laundering scheme

through a small travel agency

operating as a currency exchange office.

That was the first time

I had heard of Nelma Kodama.

Jlio had done business

with a dealer's brother

who wasn't very well organized.

It was a scam.

It was a mess,

and it prompted a meeting

between black-market dollar dealers,

but Jlio didn't attend it.

They were the dollar dealers.

They were the monarchy.

It was a very closed group.

They set the rules

of who could operate in that market.

In a male-dominated environment,

you need to make your mark.

There was a large table with the dealers,

and they were all sitting down.

Everybody stopped when I arrived.

They looked at me.

"I'm here representing Jlio Csar."

"I'm authorized to make all deals

with whoever wants

to do business with me."

Those who didn't know me, got to know me.

And what my role would be going forward.

She wanted to grow at that point.

She wanted to show the old dealers,

who thought she was too young,

that she was going to be big.

FORMER RIGHT-HAND MAN

The older traders didn't talk to Nelma.

They never would.

They were very tight-knit and restricted.

Luccas worked with me for 12 years.

I invite Mr. Luccas Pace Jnior

to take a seat at the table.

I've worked at several banks,

always in the international departments.

AUGUST 2015

DEPOSITION AT PETROBRAS

PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY COMMITTEE

I've worked with setting up

and closing banks.

I've worked in extrajudicial liquidations.

I have vast knowledge in this area.

I worked in the financial market

and in banks.

I used to own a brokerage house

and had a serious problem

from 2000 to 2001.

A corporate problem.

I lost my businesses and my companies.

I started working in the informal market.

It was all I had left.

I had a friend in the market that said,

"I'm working for Nelma."

I'd heard of her.

She contacted me.

I started going to Santo Andr.

It started with one day,

then two, three. Then I realized

it was every day.

At one point, Jlio became very fearful

of Rocha Mattos's situation.

According to the Attorney General,

Rocha Mattos is one of the leaders

of the organization

selling court sentences.

Jlio was...

afraid that something might happen to him,

that he'd be arrested or something.

He was shaken up

and depressed.

He didn't want to leave the apartment.

I picked up the slack,

since I was an employee.

All while holding the grenade.

The transition from employee to owner

happened when we opened

Hawaii Exchange and Travel.

It ceased being Suntur.

Another partner demanded

that the partnership be dissolved

to become Hawaii Exchange and Travel.

I became the owner

because Jlio didn't want to come back,

and I had to conduct

the orchestra by myself.

Nelma used to operate in the old market.

It was a much simpler market.

I had very few clients, but I started

closing the exchange deals

for her at the banks.

She started building

a technical structure.

She improved her capacity

to meet higher demand.

That's when things grew

and she moved to So Paulo.

I started...

from scratch.

I was nobody at the height

of the black-market dollar dealers.

In the 1970s, '80s, '90s,

it was morally acceptable

to have a dollar dealer working for you.

Everyone knew it was ill*gal, but Brazil...

Brazil isn't Germany, it's not a Teutonic,

Anglo-Saxon country.

Here, there are things that everyone knows

are sketchy, but they do them anyway.

Inflation leaped at rates

of two to three percent a day.

And the only solution Brazilians had

was to buy a strong foreign currency

that wouldn't devalue daily

like our currency,

whatever it was at the time.

It's challenging

to remember all the currencies.

They have had many names over the years.

That's why there were

those huge lines at currency exchanges.

Because you wanted to take your money,

which had lost a lot of value,

to buy dollars

because the value was increasing

every five minutes.

JULY 1994

LAUNCH OF THE "REAL" CURRENCY

From a devalued currency

to a strong currency.

The Real will enter our daily lives,

replacing the Cruzeiro Real.

With the Plano Real in 1994,

with the currency stabilization

and the normalization

of the Brazilian economy,

the use of dollars for asset protection

no longer played a central role.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL

Black-market dollar dealing

became much closer

to traditional criminality

and the macro corruption of major crimes.

DOWNTOWN AREA

SO PAULO

Trade with China grew exponentially.

Not the trade we talk about nowadays,

but the informal trade.

It was right when I started

operating heavily

at Rua 25 de Maro, in Pag plaza.

So Paulo's main commercial center,

Rua 25 de Maro.

Police officers and fiscal authorities

seal off Pag plaza,

which is considered a symbol

of contraband in Brazil.

People would get in touch with me,

close a deal,

and collect $100,000 or $200,000.

It was hard to believe.

One or two hundred thousand.

I created an operation

where I'd sell them the dollars

for them to take those dollars,

charter a bus and go to Paraguay

to buy the merchandise

and pay cash in dollars at the stores

before returning to So Paulo

with the merchandise.

CIUDAD DEL ESTE

PARAGUAY

The buses started getting robbed.

So I thought to myself,

"Let's look at the main stores

in Paraguay."

They'd buy goods from China or the US

and pay via illicit wire transfer.

So they didn't need the money in cash.

A wire transfer?

You think of a wire, but there is no wire.

There's a local dollar dealer

in contact with someone there.

Let's say they're in the US.

They'd send a wire.

We used to say "wire"

because it was a telex or a telegram.

They would say,

"A guy needs $200,000 in New York."

The person goes to New York,

and a courier would arrive

and hand $200,000 to that person.

How did the person over there get paid?

There were so many transactions

that someone in Brazil would need

the equivalent of $200,000

in the local currency, whatever it was.

So, the dollar dealer in Brazil

would give it to the person in Brazil,

and it would all be even.

The money never left Brazil

or went to the US.

And the transaction was done

via an illicit wire transfer.

I had a lot of credit.

So I'd say to one store,

"Leave $10,000 available for so-and-so,

social security XYZ.

He's coming to collect it."

So I'd charge a percentage from the store,

and I'd charge a percentage

from the recipient too.

I'd make money twice.

Nothing wrong with that.

I mean, there was.

Because it was ill*gal.

I remember crossing the Ponte da Amizade

between Brazil and Paraguay

many times as a cash smuggler.

Then I'd organize a dozen kids in a line.

I'd tell them, "Each of you will cross

with $10,000." How crazy am I?

And I'd just watch and say,

"If you steal from me, I'll k*ll you

and throw you off the bridge."

I'd make them walk in single file,

and I walked behind them.

Why? If one got caught,

I'd lose 10,000, not 100,000.

So, I had a set group of boys

on weekends to collect

the money in Paraguay.

Then I started getting robbed.

It was no joke going to places

like Pag plaza on Rua 25 de Maro

to collect all that money

because it was pretty crowded.

There were bags and bags of money.

She had a team that collected

money from the stalls.

That's how she operated.

With that, we needed bunkers

to store the money...

so that I could run my operation

and send the money abroad.

And contrary to what the authorities

thought at the time,

that I was running a small,

makeshift operation,

millions upon millions

were being circulated.

It was utterly insane.

Each client had an account

on Nelma's books.

Like a modern-day digital bank.

So, the customer had

a balance and would say,

"Use my balance. Pay it in China."

"Convert my balance to dollars in cash."

I had to have a lot of cell phones.

My employees didn't understand

why I had so many cell phones.

I would say that cell phones

are cheaper than lawyers

and better than jail.

That's when I started growing too big.

So, I thought I needed a code name.

"Duda." Why?

"Duda" could be Eduarda or Eduardo.

Many people called her "auntie,"

but she didn't like it very much.

She liked using the names of movie stars.

Cameron Diaz,

Brigitte Bardot, Angelina Jolie,

Julia Roberts.

I worked on the fringes.

I had to protect myself and you.

Because I took care of your money

as well as my money.

The legal banking system

is also based on trust.

It's a depositary,

a custodian of deposits

that don't actually exist.

So just like the legal banking system,

the ill*gal system

is also largely based on trust.

But we can't be romantic

thinking that there isn't any cheating

within crime, just like mafia feuds.

So, it is largely based on trust.

But there is certainly

a lot of cheating within crime.

I was a bank.

They would call me and say,

"Duda, you come get."

"Come get money mine."

"Come get $100,000 for store."

Two hours later,

we'd be taking money from the register.

Their credit would be in a store,

so that they could pick up

their merchandise.

There was a powerful dollar dealer

in the region.

A Chinese woman, Mrs. Yan.

Mrs. Yan was the dollar dealer

for the Chinese.

We were competitors.

So Mrs. Yan didn't like us.

Mrs. Yan got into a personal fight

with a Chinese man.

Then this Chinese man

had the Federal Police raid her office.

Mrs. Yan called Suntur.

And I answered the phone.

That whole thing frightened me.

So I got in my car

and rushed over

to her currency exchange to rescue her.

I put her in the car and we fled.

I don't know if she's still alive.

I just know that we became

great friends and allies.

What's her name?

Yan?

I don't know her.

I've never heard that story.

I really can't think who that is.

I think she existed

because I've heard stories about Mrs. Yan.

I don't know if she's alive,

what she does,

where she's from or where she went.

Mrs. Yan was one of the women

who inspired me.

Nelma is exaggerating.

She likes being grandiose.

Nelma's story sounded so confusing to me

because she talked about Beto,

the other guy, and I didn't understand it.

Nor did I want to.

I needed to work.

Since I didn't really know her story

and I saw inconsistencies,

I understood that she mixed

business with pleasure.

I was never much for dating.

And when I fell in love,

I fell hard.

What was Nelma's type in men?

FRIEND

She had no type.

As long as he was interesting,

that was enough.

Alberto Youssef was a great love of hers

and an overwhelming passion.

Alberto Youssef is

a notorious money launderer.

Whenever you mention money laundering,

he is always involved.

Because he's an expert.

How did I meet Beto?

It was in February 2000.

I had done a currency deal with someone.

But they were late on payments.

I started pressuring them and they said

they had bought from Beto.

I said, "But who is Beto?"

I heard that Beto lived in Londrina.

He transported valuables.

I started doing business with him.

He kept calling me.

One day, he said,

"I'm coming to meet you."

I thought, "You know what?

Let's meet this guy."

And there he was, shorter than me.

Beautiful eyes,

but extremely poorly dressed.

He was wearing a rumpled shirt.

FORMER DOLLAR DEALER

The sides of his shoes were all worn out.

And he had an old 007 briefcase.

"If he's married, it's a bad marriage.

His wife doesn't take care of him."

But as soon as I looked at him,

I thought, "Holy sh*t..."

"I'm done for."

"This is... It's over."

To operate a scheme

that may have laundered

about ten billion reais,

dollar dealer Alberto Youssef,

held in custody in Curitiba,

set up a vast network of contacts

in and out of the government.

What did I see in him?

I saw everything and nothing.

Or vice versa.

Alberto Youssef is a symbolic figure

of how the world of dollar dealers works.

He did everything he could to survive,

and he's good with numbers and money.

He was born and raised

in the Triple Frontier,

near Foz do Iguau and Londrina,

where financial crime is a reality.

As well as smuggling,

you have a series of people

around the border

carrying out ill*gal activities.

And I believe

he became familiar with the logic

of how the financial system works

when he was a kid.

BANESTADO CASE INVESTIGATIONS

For almost four years, Paran State Bank,

a state-owned company,

was harboring what may have been

the largest dirty money laundry

in Brazil's history.

Alberto Youssef was already carrying out

money laundering schemes

through CC5 accounts.

It was known as the Banestado Case.

The dollar dealers assigned frontmen

at the Triple Frontier,

especially Paraguayans,

and opened CC5 accounts in their names

at Banestado branches in Foz do Iguau.

They were foreign accounts,

so you could send money through them.

That's when Brazil was opening up

and you could carry out

legal transactions in foreign currencies.

FEDERAL SENATE

This case prompted

a Parliamentary Inquiry Committee.

The inquiry was buried.

At the time, Alberto Youssef

had many friends in Braslia.

He started creating

a large network of influence,

and in the 1990s,

a politician from Paran, Jos Janene,

started gaining prominence

as a federal congressman.

He has now passed away.

He started making deals

that later were considered ill*gal.

Alberto Youssef was Janene's operator.

He was Janene's courier.

FORMER FEDERAL CONGRESSMAN

Paran's federal court sentenced

former federal congressman

Pedro Corra to twenty years

and seven months in prison

for corruption and money laundering.

Judge Srgio Moro gave the ruling.

APRIL 2015

According to reports,

the former congressman received bribes

on behalf of the Partido Progressista

for the Petrobras corruption scheme.

Before Petrobras,

there were other institutions

used by Janene

to arrange party contributions

from businessmen through Youssef.

He carried out the operations.

He'd receive dollars, send dollars abroad,

exchange the dollars into cash,

and deliver the money to Braslia.

And we'd distribute it

among public officials.

Alberto Youssef was involved once again.

And he knew a dollar dealer.

And he turned to her when he needed cash,

especially in US dollars.

When he had trouble

delivering the money, he'd say,

"I'll sacrifice myself

and visit the Japanese lady."

"I'll have a quickie and bring the money."

That's what he'd say.

I had no idea who she was

or what she looked like.

But he'd say that she was a beast

at solving money problems.

She was Satan in a skirt.

This is the type of game I like to play.

I didn't have any other operation.

I had an underground operation.

Because cash leaves no trace.

We lived together for nine years.

They were good times.

I was madly in love with him.

He was arrested three times

during that period.

His last agreement meant

that he could no longer operate.

He couldn't work with currency exchange.

So we agreed

that I'd do the deals instead.

I can't comment on her trading

on his behalf when he wasn't able to

because I was just getting to know her

and her structure.

I really didn't have access to...

But did you meet Mr. Alberto Youssef?

I did.

- Dario Messer?

- No.

- Raul Srour?

- Raul, yes. I did.

Raul was my Jewish friend.

FORMER DOLLAR DEALER

He had impeccable taste

and smelled divine.

He was classy and elegant,

but he had no money.

He was partners with other dealers.

One of the last few old dollar dealers.

I have no idea

how she met Raul, but she did.

And she, apparently,

started doing business with him,

and it became a relationship.

She did mention

having heated arguments with Alberto,

but typical lovers' quarrels.

She was Youssef's lover.

They'd fight. He didn't want

to leave his wife for her, and all that.

Sometimes, he'd come over.

She threw his clothes out

of the top-floor window.

We actually really only had one fight.

Only one.

He was away a lot.

He had to go to Braslia, for example.

He would stay there, then travel,

and I'd say, "Where are you going?"

"What's going on?" I thought

he was cheating, but he wasn't.

Now, I know that he'd arrive late because

he was meeting with contractors.

So he was making money

behind my back and sleeping with me.

I said, "One of these days,

you'll come home and there'll be a man

in our bed."

"There'll be a man in our bed."

And that's what happened.

It was Valentine's Day.

I bought two first-class tickets.

From So Paulo to Paris.

The Ritz Hotel.

The Presidential Suite.

And...

He was bewildered when he heard

that I was going to Paris.

"I'm the one not spending

Valentine's Day with you."

"I won't."

I invited my Jewish friend

to come with me.

It was a sensational trip.

It was really after meeting Raul

that she started

to get to know the world better.

That's when I went into Chanel,

and they closed the store for me.

And I started shopping.

He started teaching me.

"Look,

with your money,

you can buy this and that."

All tasteful.

Because up to that point,

I had only made a lot of money.

This is the view from our beautiful room.

How's that?

And Beto would call.

Beto would call the hotel, and Beto...

That whole drama.

How's that for you?

Do you like it?

We even have a little birdie.

When we got back to So Paulo,

I called Beto.

I imagined many things, except him saying,

"We're done."

MARCH 2014

Dealers, businessmen, politicians,

and one of the country's

largest companies, Petrobras...

A blend that led to the complex bribery

and money laundering scheme

uncovered by Operation Car Wash.

Nelma knew all about the scheme

that Youssef ran with the businessmen

because she participated in many trades.

The dollar dealer was arrested in 2014,

while trying to board

a flight to Milan with 200,000 euros

hidden in her underwear.

I wasn't running.

I was going to a furniture fair.

"You are under arrest."

"We received an anonymous tip

that you are carrying drugs."

I said, "Drugs?"

"No!" I had 200,000 euros.

That was the only ill*gal thing.

I didn't declare it to the tax office

because it was closed.

That's not my problem.

I had a code...

with someone.

If I called and said,

"I'm going to Disney,"

they were supposed

to get rid of everything.

Burn everything.

So I called them and said,

"I'm going to Disney."

I mean...

Operation Car Wash is considered

the country's largest corruption

and money laundering investigation.

The discovery that a currency exchange

office at this gas station,

in the heart of Braslia,

in plain sight, was moving dirty money

led to the name "Car Wash."

The same officer

that arrested me called me.

I thought he was bringing

my release order.

Boy, was I wrong.

It was an arrest warrant

by the then judge Srgio Moro,

who was triggering Operation Car Wash.

Judge Srgio Moro convicted 140 people,

including former president Lula

and prominent businessmen.

Those who committed

acts of corruption, powerful people...

SENATOR, FORMER FEDERAL JUDGE

...are answering to the courts of justice.

No one knew what was happening.

I went to a room

where there were at least 17 men,

all with their heads down

pretending not to know each other.

I thought, "My God, what's going on?"

Luccas was there.

They transferred us.

We were taken to a room.

That's when I saw

a very scared Raul in a straitjacket.

I believe he must have resisted arrest.

Criminal organizations led

by dollar dealers were targeted first.

Among those dollar dealers

was Alberto Youssef.

I think they arrested Nelma

to confirm Youssef's story

when he was arrested.

She'd had a connection to him

since the Banestado Case,

so they knew she was close to him.

INTERROGATION

"We want to know everything

about Alberto Youssef."

"If you tell us,

you'll be out of here in a week, tops."

"Otherwise, you can be sure

you'll rot in jail."

"So I'll rot."

In politics, you're like a card player.

A card player is never out of money.

They might be broke,

but they'll always find money to play.

Politicians are the same.

I never denied that I had help

from businesspeople.

You need to raise money for elections

because it's expensive.

You need other people's money.

Because the party fund

won't get anyone elected.

The person in office

for five, six, seven terms spends big.

That's what the funding is for,

otherwise, you don't get votes.

Politicians won't come straight out

to a businessman and say,

"I want millions of reais

in exchange for such a favor."

They choose financial operators.

They're professionals.

There used to be illicit wire transfers.

Now, we talk a lot about Bitcoin.

There are ways to make the money

you receive here go further abroad.

Behind any political scheme,

there is a financial scheme,

like the dollar dealers.

So Youssef partnered up with Dario Messer,

and he became a dollar dealer,

a Messer underling,

who is the biggest dollar dealer

in Brazilian history.

He had so much money

and ran so many schemes

that he could subcontract people.

Alberto Youssef starts climbing the ranks

in his role as a financial operator,

and gradually,

he starts working on his own

and becomes a businessman

with his own businesses.

We did reconnect.

In 2013, he came to me and said,

"We're going to work on an operation

that will last a year."

"And after that, it's over.

No more currency deals."

"We'll make money and won't need anymore."

It was to get several congressmen elected

and who knows what else.

I said, "Okay."

The task force is investigating

embezzlement at Petrobras...

They charged bribes from construction

firms working with Petrobras.

I wasn't part of Operation Car Wash

because I never operated for Petrobras.

I was a dollar dealer.

But I had done

absolutely nothing with Petrobras.

In fact, I didn't even know

why I was there.

There was that too.

She managed to run into two lovers

locked up in jail.

Alberto Youssef and Raul Srour.

They put me in a cell by myself.

There were three cells side by side

with mattresses that smelled of urine.

I believe there were 20 men

in the other two cells.

Mr. Paulo Roberto Costa arrived

on the third or fourth day,

a gentleman from Petrobras.

Beto was already there.

FORMER PETROBRAS DIRECTOR

That's the hardest moment,

when you ask yourself,

"What am I doing here?

What does the future hold?"

You'd see that bunch of guys,

all those grown men crying,

"I want to leave."

Atheists suddenly became Evangelical,

Christian or macumba practitioners.

It was all new and scary.

It was hard for everyone. Really hard.

Especially for Raul.

His son was also arrested.

We didn't know how big

Operation Car Wash was.

We had no idea. It was the first day.

It wasn't in the news.

We were the news.

Almost everyone believed

it would be resolved within days.

Youssef also believed

it would be resolved quickly.

Raul did too. Like any other operation

before Operation Car Wash.

Nelma's mood would change quickly,

and sometimes,

the same subject that made her laugh

would upset her minutes later.

I was the first woman arrested

in Operation Car Wash.

It's hard to accept that you're in prison,

but you've got to accept it.

Why? Because you're in denial.

For example, I'd say, "I don't want a fan

because I'm getting out."

No, you're not getting out.

So, what do you do?

You have to make your cell comfortable.

She'd clean her cell

about five times a day.

She's kind of crazy.

But we got along well

because I got a ton of attention.

She'd cook for me. She fussed over me.

And then she started taking care of me.

Pedro is quite the character.

Alberto Youssef wouldn't talk to her,

but she'd talk to him.

He wouldn't say,

"Good morning." He wouldn't.

Beto would say,

"You... I don't want her in here!"

Pedro would say,

"She can stay on my side!"

Alberto Youssef had never read

a book in his life.

So I gave him his first book

to occupy him and get some sleep.

We'd play cards, dominoes and chess.

But at some point,

playing poker or anything else

would get too serious.

So we'd think up something new,

like playing Categories.

Alberto Youssef didn't know it,

but it was a serious game

that was even worth your Sunday bun.

Sunday's bread wasn't from the same place

as the rest of the week.

It was a highly contested game

when bread was involved.

I once won two buns in a single weekend.

I always thought Luccas was very smart.

But... There is always a "but."

Operation Car Wash brought us both down.

He was detained with me,

and I was very disappointed with him

because when I was arrested,

they asked him,

"Are you going to talk about Nelma

and her assets?"

"If you don't, you'll go to prison."

He didn't last five minutes.

He told them everything.

Federal Judge Srgio Moro approved

the first leniency agreement

of Operation Car Wash.

The agreement, signed

at the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba,

is regarding defendant Luccas Pace Jnior.

He was accused of financial crimes,

money laundering,

and criminal association as a subordinate

of alleged dollar dealer

Nelma Mitsue Penasso Kodama.

Luckily, I spent five months

in the Federal Police holding cells.

Some went to penitentiaries.

Since I had performed services

for the detention facility,

we were able to get them to separate

the cells for Operation Car Wash

from the ones for other crimes.

There was a difference

because they were all

white-collar crime prisoners.

New arrests by Operation Car Wash

investigating corruption at Petrobras.

One is Marcelo Odebrecht,

president of Odebrecht,

the country's biggest contractor.

Marcelo arrived.

There was only one bed in my cell.

The others had bunk beds.

I had one bed. Marcelo slept on the floor.

Marcelo was also obsessed with tidiness.

He'd organize the fridge,

and I'd mess it up

and say, "Marcelo, the fridge is messy."

He'd take off like crazy

to organize the fridge.

Then I'd mess it up again.

All of a sudden,

a top-level Odebrecht secretary arrived.

Maria Lcia was incarcerated with us.

She arrived there in total shock

and extremely fragile.

They needed her testimony

to force Marcelo Odebrecht

to start making his statement.

She asked me about it.

And I'd say to her,

"You need to weigh up the alternatives."

"Your freedom or your conviction."

"I've been here for a long time."

"You can be sure

that if you give them what they want,

you'll probably be released."

"But now, you need to settle it

with your conscience."

We tried telling her, "Don't do this."

"You've been with the firm for 30 years.

Your boss is next door."

Nelma said, "You'll get screwed."

"I'm in here. I know what it's like."

"If you don't snitch,

it'll be the end for you."

Maria Lcia Tavares was the first

Odebrecht employee to collaborate...

She revealed the existence of a dedicated

bribery department at the company.

She testified before the judge...

Nelma can quickly read people

as soon as she meets them.

She figures out what that person is like.

It was an expl*sive testimony.

Nelma convinced her to talk about Marcelo.

Nelma probably did that

for the negotiation

of her own leniency agreement

because anything you bring is important.

So this could count

in your favor, so to speak.

Through that arrangement,

I believe I may have helped.

I don't know if she gained

any objective benefits

in terms of her sentence,

but she started to be seen

by Operation Car Wash's team in Curitiba

as a collaborator,

as someone they could count on.

She really did help at the time.

This matters to her.

She needs to be in charge.

She needs to say,

"I can help you."

That's what I think it is.

She's like an artist.

Ladies and gentlemen, Nelma Kodama.

Nelma, thank you for coming.

Look how cool!

Look at how important I am.

The president is below me.

That's so cool!

She didn't play the victim.

Who can forget her taking

and posting pictures

wearing an ankle monitor?

It's a slap in the face.

I don't know

if she's trying to be an influencer

or wanting to show off

her fashionable monitor.

I was afraid of going out.

Then I said, "You know what?

I'll go out wearing my monitor."

"Why hide it?"

I think she sort of enjoyed

being this Hollywood character,

the outlaw. The female bandit.

On tonight's show...

Do you not consider yourself a bandit?

No, I don't consider myself a bandit.

Perhaps the exposure of her job

and even her pride

in calling herself a dollar dealer

is her personal characteristic.

I said, "I'm taking up

almost half a page on a Sunday."

Maybe she'd be like that in any job.

How does a dentist become a dollar dealer?

That's a subject for another interview.

She liked showing off.

People would recognize me

and ask to take selfies with me.

I thought that was funny.

Once again, the whole page.

But I became a celebrity because I sang

at the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee,

at a moment when I...

I didn't plan to do that at the Petrobras

Parliamentary Inquiry Committee,

where the largest corruption operation

in the world was being conducted.

And all of a sudden, a parliamentarian

wanted to know about my personal life.

I declare the 18th Parliamentary Inquiry

Committee meeting open,

with the goal of investigating

ill*gal practices and irregularities

within the company

between 2005 and 2015.

This meeting is a public hearing

to obtain statements from:

Nelma Kodama,

Ren Luiz Pereira, Joo Luiz Correia...

"Is that Nelma?

The Nelma who went to school with us?"

All of a sudden, we see Nelma

at the Petrobras inquiry.

FRIEND

I even called my wife,

who also studied with us.

She was nearby, and I said,

"Mrcia, hurry. Look who it is."

FRIEND

We were perplexed.

And we thought, "My God, what happened?"

I am here today under investigation,

since I've already been

convicted and sentenced

by Judge Srgio Moro.

Small towns are like that.

Everybody knows each other.

Were you Alberto Youssef's lover?

I lived maritally with Alberto Youssef

from 2000 to 2009.

I was at a Parliamentary Inquiry,

which I believed to be serious,

and a parliamentarian kept insisting,

"Were you his lover? Were you?"

"Lover" is an all-encompassing word.

The lover is the wife, the friend...

- I'm not passing judgment.

- But I'm...

- I'm answering.

- I'm just reading what was written.

And I'm explaining.

I'm explaining.

I'm just reading. Is that a problem?

- May I continue?

- Yes.

"If you want to know

if a lover is a friend, a wife,

a companion, a partner,

then I was his lover."

"There is even a Roberto Carlos song..."

And at that moment,

everyone started singing with me.

So I just went like this.

You can't take Nelma Kodama seriously.

She's the one who sang

"Amada Amante," remember?

That iconic moment of her singing

with some congressmen singing along.

There was nothing left for me to do,

and he thought

I was showing off. I wasn't showing off.

I was protecting myself from his question,

which was neither subtle nor very elegant.

And I'm an elegant woman. Spare me.

I met Nelma

at Lins Technical College in the 1980s.

We were 15, 16, 17 years old.

Oh, yes, Nelma was pretty rowdy.

The rowdy crowd sits

at the back of the classroom

and bands together to mess around.

Nelma came from a wealthy

and traditional family in Lins.

I met Nelma when we took

our admission exams for Lins College.

The freshmen get hazed.

And we'd go in costumes.

- Look at Nelma as a geisha.

- She's dressed as a geisha.

We graduated 30 years ago

from Lins School of Dentistry.

The whole g*ng that you already know...

In all my years at dentistry school,

I was the nerd who never went out

and didn't go to parties.

I never went anywhere.

I started going out

during my last semester.

Nelma, Ione, Gisela...

- Ione, you, Robertinha...

- Robertinha.

It's rare for Nelma Kodama

to have friends.

- Artur!

- Darling!

Many friends just lost touch.

Because they weren't

Nelma Kodama's friends.

They were friends

with Nelma Kodama's money.

My dear Artur. Do you remember

when we danced in Milan?

I do.

It was always like that.

- She'd say, "Artur!"

- I'd say, "Artur!"

FRIEND

"Artur, come with me to Paris."

And I'd say...

She'd say, "Artur, I'm sending you a copy

of the ticket. Come. It's tomorrow, okay?"

I'd say, "Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, tomorrow." And then...

This is my great friend.

My accomplice.

- Not accomplice.

- No. Calm down, everyone.

We don't want

to compromise you, right, Artur?

I don't mess with dollars or euros.

Milan, Istanbul...

Istanbul is awful.

Oh, Artur. Istanbul was so funny.

She's crazy, unpredictable,

and irresponsible.

Look, she's hiding! Look here!

I'm going home now.

Because it's time

to be under house arrest.

Because 10 p.m. is...

I had my college friends,

and when we were really stressed,

I'd say, "Guys, shall we go for a ride?"

"Let's do a flyby over Lins."

It was a plane owned by Nelma's family.

It just sat at the airport,

and once in a while, we'd go there.

She'd arrange it all with the pilot

without her mother knowing.

She'd organize everything with the pilot,

but she'd fly the plane too.

It's not that I knew how to fly.

The pilot would let me

take control of the plane.

All of a sudden, I realized

she was switching places with the pilot.

"Relax. I've got this."

It was a dangerous game

because I didn't have a license.

I hope the pilots forgive me.

We'd take some beer to drink.

And we'd circle above the city.

He did some loops,

but she'd just go up and down.

And what did she do? Laugh.

She cracked up at our panicked faces.

They were enjoying

doing something the "wrong" way.

Not me. I was up there,

thinking about

what I was seeing down below.

And I'd think, "Man..."

"I wasn't born to be a dentist."

"This is not going to work!"

APRIL 2022

LISBON

PORTUGAL

Nelma's in the news again today.

She was arrested in Portugal

accused of something

even worse than the previous accusation:

international drug trafficking.

The investigation points to a woman

as the organization's leader.

Nelma Kodama is

on the investigators' list,

accused of laundering money

for a complex drug trafficking network.

I went from Operation Car Wash empress

to drug trafficking empress.

I was sitting on a hotel balcony

when nine or ten policemen

came in and said...

"You're under arrest."

In Portugal, Nelma is considered

to be extremely dangerous.

LAWYER

While Nelma was detained

at the Santa Cruz do Bispo

Detention Facility,

she was in a system

where she had no contact

with other inmates.

I had some idea about Operation Car Wash

because I was a dollar dealer.

But with this operation, I had no idea

what I was being charged for.

Investigations point

to the dollar dealer owning

a portion of the 580 kilos of cocaine

seized from the fuselage

of a Portuguese company's plane

at the airport of the Bahian capital.

She got involved

in this process, no doubt,

due to her relationship with someone else.

NELMA'S EX-BOYFRIEND AND LAWYER

I had a relationship with that person.

I was being betrayed by a nobody.

By a nobody!

No one knows who they are,

but everyone knows Nelma Kodama.

He is not an intelligent man.

He is not a criminal because a criminal,

forgive me, but at least a criminal has

honor within the criminal world.

They keep their word.

I don't think she came to terms

with living an inferior lifestyle

after her Operation Car Wash arrest.

You pull it out,

then push it back.

Pull and push.

Pull and push.

And so on.

She was left with nothing.

She couldn't get back into business,

so she decided to enter the drug world,

which is a really serious crime.

It causes significant harm

to other people.

Taking dollars from the rich

to give to politicians was very different.

Being investigated

for international drug trafficking

is a lot to bear.

I am someone who is completely

and unequivocally against drugs. I am.

I am. I don't drink or smoke.

How could I sell drugs?

Nelma didn't accept extradition to Brazil

when it was first mentioned.

She didn't want to go to Brazil

without being fully informed.

Then, she understood

that it made sense to go back to Brazil

and defend herself in the case.

OCTOBER 2022

A dollar dealer convicted

in Operation Car Wash,

who informed on businessmen

and politicians, has been extradited.

She arrived last night in Salvador.

She was taken to the Federal Police

Regional Superintendent Office.

FEDERAL POLICE

Nine people were investigated

in Operation Discovery.

I was the only woman.

I was the only person

detained in Salvador.

I was there for three months

because the case started there.

I went through hell.

It was the worst thing

that had ever happened to me.

"Is this hell?"

I thought, "Is this hell?"

When you think things are bad,

they can get worse.

I developed two wrinkles here.

And these two wrinkles...

I'm a dentist, so I know the muscles.

It's because I don't laugh.

So this starts to waste away.

It's wasting away.

JUNE 2023

Nelma was arrested and accused

of transnational crimes, drug trafficking

and criminal organization.

LAWYER

Our main focus here

is the issue of her freedom.

Do you know if they've signed it?

Could you check for me?

Hi, Thiago. Good afternoon.

It's Bruno again.

Can I call you in five?

What time does your workday end?

My God, it's just to sign

an official letter. Hopeless.

I spent six months in Portugal,

then I spent three months in Salvador,

and then four months here, in So Paulo.

Here, it was a piece of cake.

Girls, the release order has been issued.

I'm heading over there, okay?

I'll go and oversee it.

I'll keep you updated. See you later.

SANTANA WOMEN'S PENITENTIARY

Counselor, he's finishing the release

procedure and once he's done,

he'll call me.

Then you can come in and wait...

No, we can do better.

We'll pull the car up right here,

so she can get in.

Do you know what freedom tastes like?

It tastes bittersweet.

COURT GRANTS NELMA HOUSE ARRESNelma's not just a client,

and it is a unique case.

I would visit Nelma

twice a week in Portugal.

And she would also call me every day,

including Saturdays,

Sundays, and holidays.

She would always listen to me,

always look at me.

She always looked me in the eye.

And we even talked

about more trivial things.

How she felt,

her concerns,

including her health

and her future aspirations.

Let me help you.

She started feeling

comfortable enough to vent,

which became more frequent

as we got closer.

And, yes, now,

with Nelma, I can... I consider...

In fact, she often calls me "sweetheart."

- You look beautiful.

- Who, me?

Some people said

I'd never get out of prison.

That wore me down.

"Counselor Manuela,

I'm never getting out."

"Of course you are."

"But what if I'm in here

for eight or even ten years?"

"But what do you think I'm doing?"

"If you were going to be here for eight

or ten years, I wouldn't be here."

Counselor Manuela,

these are my lawyers, Counselors Bruno...

- A pleasure.

- ...and Felipe.

Counselor Manuela accompanied me

for the first six months.

There is also an ongoing case

against me in Portugal.

She's overseeing everything there,

and now, we have you.

Counselor Manuela,

they are young, brilliant,

and they specialize

in criminal organizations.

This is one of the reasons

why we changed strategies.

I said, "No, I must take a stand."

"It's not possible.

If a first-class nobody can get out,

why can't I?"

We are really alike in many ways,

starting with our poor taste in men.

We laugh a lot.

A lot.

In fact, once we laughed

about precisely that.

She said, "Look, Counselor,

as soon as I get out,

I'll find you a boyfriend."

And I laughed and said,

"If I go by your exes..."

It's like they say.

Men came to steal from us,

humiliate us, and use us.

In Beto's case, for example,

I had both a personal relationship

and a business relationship with him.

Our involvement in Operation Car Wash

was due to her relationship with Youssef.

If it were just the normal market,

perhaps we wouldn't have gone down.

Just like other dealers

working with Youssef who didn't go down.

They didn't want Nelma.

And I said nothing about Youssef.

And to my surprise, I saw on television

that Beto was signing

a leniency agreement.

Alberto Youssef received

a reduced sentence in exchange

for pleading guilty

to his Petrobras crimes

and providing evidence

revealing the company's entire scheme.

"Wow, if he did that,

I hope he brings me along

and protects me."

That's not what happened.

I said, "Well, life goes on.

Let's move forward."

And that was that.

It's not about forgiving or not forgiving.

It's all good. We're even. Life moves on.

I wish everyone happiness.

To everyone. And life goes on.

Evidence of an ill*gal wiretap

in Alberto Youssef's cell...

After much back and forth in court,

the defendant's lawyers

secured a release order...

The task force lost steam

after conversations

between two central figures were leaked:

the then judge Srgio Moro

and the then prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol.

Srgio Moro,

Deltan Dallagnol, and their group

made decisions that violated the law.

I've always acted

in accordance with the law.

I've always acted based on the ethics

of the judicial system.

Moro supposedly had given

the prosecutors informal leads.

There were miscarriages of justice,

illegalities, unethical actions...

I never advised

the Public Prosecutor's Office

to do anything.

Prosecutors are taking advantage

of the exposure they received.

Srgio Moro is the fifth confirmed

minister of Bolsonaro's administration.

The former federal judge resigned as

Minister of Justice and Public Security...

Srgio Moro's daily schedule

continues as an electoral campaign.

Several leaks raised questions

about the former judge's impartiality

heading the largest anti-corruption

operation in Brazil's history.

Operation Car Wash had 79 phases

and 278 convictions.

The task force was dismantled

in February 2021.

You could see the twist coming

because what goes up

must come crashing down.

Vanity comes into it.

And when vanity comes into it,

you get lost in power.

Deep loneliness.

I felt a deep emptiness in her

at the end of the day

when she headed home

and everything was done for the day.

Like an artist or a comedian

who is a nobody once they get home.

They're just a normal person.

I don't know how we reconnected.

We talked and she said,

"I don't have anyone by my side.

I don't have kids. I have nothing."

"So, was it all worth it?"

"Oh, but that's okay."

"Tomorrow is a new day. I'll make it.

I'll do some business..."

She assumed that character.

I call it the "Nelma character."

I'm not a mom, so I don't know

how it feels to give birth to a child,

but I've given birth to money.

Even without being central

to the schemes, she caused a stir.

A dollar dealer

that climbed the criminal ranks,

working the men.

Dirty money is dirty.

But when it comes packaged

from the bank, it smells really nice.

But it's not the smell

of purchasing power.

It's the smell of the money's birthplace.

That beautiful operation

of being a dollar dealer...

The credibility

of making a call and saying,

"Transfer me a million."

Boom, it was in your account.

"I'll pay you tomorrow." "Okay."

That's all over.

I believe the new digital payment methods

with tokens, NFTs, Bitcoin, and others,

make the traditional enabler role

of the dollar dealer obsolete.

Cash and credit are dying.

Cryptocurrency provides

a similar level of anonymity to cash.

I think I'd be a hacker.

The person who figures out

how to make the money untraceable.

Her life is clearly dedicated

to criminal activity.

My friend...

The idea of Nelma being a criminal

is inconceivable to me.

I felt like a taxi driver.

I don't know the money's origin,

or if that person paid me

with drug money or from selling a car.

I don't know where it's from.

If Nelma says she's a taxi driver

without knowing what's going on,

I'd say the best analogy

is that she's driving the getaway car.

Someone is going to kidnap a person

and she's the getaway driver.

It's a complex aspect of financial crime

and this type of criminal organization.

Because you can always seem cleaner

than you really are.

It's called "white-collar crime"

for a reason.

Nelma can think

that her understanding of a crime

is different from mine or other people's,

but it's all the same.

It's a serious mistake to say

that financial crimes and corruption

are minor transgressions

and not blood crimes.

Ninety-eight percent

of Brazil's deforestation is ill*gal.

This deforestation can only happen

land grabbing, but also through

the flow of illicit payments,

laundered by dollar dealers.

The country's engine is corruption.

Before the money got to me,

it went through the large institutions.

It went from the businessman's

or the politician's account into mine.

Operation Car Wash uncovered

a corruption scheme never seen in Brazil.

But what I believe took place

was a case of omnipotence,

thinking that since they were

fighting crime, they could do anything.

We often saw that missionary instinct,

but when the system decides to react,

that's when it gets you.

When the operation reached the Judiciary,

it began to be dismantled,

but it never came close

to the financial system.

It is estimated

that money laundering accounts

for 5% to 8% of the world's GDP.

There'd never be a large corruption scheme

without the collusion

of the Brazilian

and international financial systems.

What was ill*gal?

I wasn't breaking the law.

They're never guilty.

The government's financial body, COAF,

should oversee this, not me.

It's pure cynicism

facilitated by society's tolerance

of white-collar crime

and the white skin and light-colored eyes

that walk the halls of power in Braslia

and the world of luxury.

Holding a major Swiss bank accountable,

or a big New York law firm,

or governments of European countries

that looked the other way

and ensured that their countries

benefited from money

from global corruption,

from money laundering,

that's the ultimate challenge.

It is all outside the law.

If I'm outside the law, everything is.

The question is,

does the political system,

do the regulators

and the established power

truly want to be ahead of crime,

or is it convenient to lag behind?

I'd like to thank you,

because you are my team.

- It'll be okay.

- Of course it will because I'm innocent.

With the annulment

of Operation Car Wash's ruling,

you are innocent.

And do you know why

I'm innocent of this crime?

I'd never work an operation like that.

And if I did, it would've been successful

because I'm not stupid.

WITH HER HOUSE ARREST ORDER LIFTED,

NELMA KODAMA REMAINS FREE

AND AWAITS TRIAL

ON DRUG TRAFFICKING CHARGES.

FOR OPERATION CAR WASH,

HER LAWYERS ARE WORKING

TO ANNUL HER SENTENCE

BASED ON PREVIOUS COURT RULINGS.

I'm going to tell you a secret.

I'm allergic to money.

I have an allergy and it makes me itch

like you wouldn't believe.

You have no idea.

I'm sorry.

I'm allergic to money.