Original article: La trama detrás del jet de Bolsonaro: un procesado por lavado, un exsocio acusado de narcotráfico y el escándalo de Milei

The Bolsonaro Jet Escape: Money Laundering Accusations, Drug Trafficking Associates, and the Milei Scandal

Right-wing politician Flávio Bolsonaro fled Brazil after losing the runoff election against President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, defying a court order preventing him from leaving the country. Reports indicate that he crossed into Argentina with his wife and two daughters, boarded a private jet to Ecuador, and continued to the United States.

The Gulfstream G400 aircraft used for the escape was operated by Baires Fly, the same company linked by Argentine authorities to a corruption scandal uncovered at the National Disability Agency (ANDIS), headed by Diego Spagnuolo, a close friend of President Javier Milei.

According to immigration authorities who confirmed via the social network X, at 2:01 AM on Wednesday, the group consisting of Flávio Nantes Bolsonaro, his wife Fernanda Antunes Figueira Bolsonaro, and their daughters Carolina and Luiza Figueira Bolsonaro entered the country through the Tancredo Neves border crossing in Misiones at 10:50 PM on Tuesday, October 27. Half an hour later, at 11:30 PM, they boarded the private jet dispatched by Baires Fly S.A. destined for Guayaquil, Ecuador, although the flight ultimately ended in Miami.

The journey took place on a Gulfstream G400 with registration LV-JQW, operated by two pilots and an Argentine crew member. The former Brazilian candidate used an Italian passport to cross the border, according to the flight declaration.

Jet Used for Bolsonaro’s Escape and its Links to the ANDIS Case

The aviation company is mentioned 79 times in the latest indictment issued by Judge Ariel Lijo on October 16 in the ANDIS case. In this ruling, the judge indicted Sergio Mastropietro, linked to Baires Fly, without preventive detention for being considered part of the criminal organization operating within the agency and for the crime of «money laundering of illicit origin,» with an asset freeze of $4,010,254,064.

The investigation, initiated by prosecutor Franco Picardi, revealed that Baires Fly’s billings to the involved companies total $1,002,188,516, and that part of this operation was aimed at channeling funds from the investigated network through commercial documentation that gave them the appearance of legitimate activity. Judge Lijo explained that Mastropietro «is linked to the firm ‘Baires Fly S.A.’, which allegedly was used for receiving and laundering funds from companies that supplied the ANDIS, in exchange for issuing invoices for supposed services, in operations intermediated by Miguel Ángel Calvete,” who has been identified as the head of the criminal association within the ANDIS, despite not holding an official position, managed several contracts, benefiting his own companies.

According to El Destape, this indictment is part of a 553-page ruling with 24 new indictments in the Coimagate context, which detected directed purchases and price inflation amounting to nearly $8 billion in the acquisition of medications and supplies, a partial figure expected to exceed the initial estimate.

Indicted for Money Laundering and Owner of the Airline

According to Argentine justice, Sergio Mastropietro had a prior relationship with Calvete, formed along with Lorena Di Giorno the company Megastática S.A.S., whose address matched that of Indecomm S.R.L., Calvete’s company, and was registered on two occasions entering with Calvete and Guadalupe Muñoz into Spagnuolo’s residence. He is also included in a list known as «Círculo Tuco,» seized from Calvete’s property.

When questioned on May 26, Mastropietro denied the accusations and submitted a written defense claiming not to have a direct connection with Baires Fly, although he acknowledged providing advice to them.

«Regarding Baires Fly S.A., I emphasize that I have never been a member in any capacity, nor as an authority, shareholder, or employee,» he stated. However, in his LinkedIn profile (as of 2023), he presented himself as a partner of Baires Fly since 2006, citing 17 years of experience in that role.

For the judiciary, this relationship is evidenced through messages and large invoices. There are even chats from August 2025 where Mastropietro sent Calvete the details of a bank account at Banco Macro belonging to Baires Fly, and Guadalupe Muñoz forwarded a contact saved as «Sergio Baires Fly». An anonymous witness also stated that, according to Calvete, Mastropietro «was the owner of the company Baires Fly.«

Former Associate of a Drug Trafficking Accused

According to El Destape, records from the Agency for Revenue Collection and Customs Control (ARCA) have revealed invoices from Baires Fly to Indecomm S.R.L., Probock S.R.L., Prolite Orthopedics S.R.L., Profarma S.A., and Resposane Salud S.A., all linked to the core of the investigated contracts, for $1,097,248,516 during the analyzed period. To Indecomm, a company owned by Calvete, Baires Fly billed $100,000,000 in July 2025 under the concept of «national kilometers to be used in the company’s aircraft«, and Profarma pharmacy received another $361,000,000 that same year.

Mastropietro’s name takes on another dimension due to his status as a former associate of Federico «Fred» Machado, the Argentine businessman who was extradited in November 2025 to the United States for drug trafficking, money laundering, and fraud, and in 2026 was found guilty of money laundering and electronic fraud in Texas. He was also a financier of José Luis Espert, former congressman, former head of the Budget Committee, and author of the slogan “prison or bullet,” who was indicted for money laundering due to the $200,000 he received from Machado, and for whom Javier Milei has launched a defense campaign.

For Judge Ariel Lijo, it is not relevant whether Mastropietro was formally a shareholder of Baires Fly, but rather that his «concrete intervention in the operations conducted through that company» in the context of the ANDIS case is substantiated.