Brazil Supreme Court Justice Orders Federal Police Probe of Possible Foreign Interference in 2026 Election

Brazil Supreme Federal Court Justice Flávio Dino on Tuesday ordered the Federal Police to open an inquiry into possible foreign interference in the country’s 2026 electoral process, including allegations of hidden or indirect campaign financing.

The order does not mean interference has been established. But it sharply escalates the matter by moving a set of election-related complaints from court filings and campaign representations into a formal federal investigation under Supreme Court supervision. As of Tuesday, there were no public Federal Police findings and no public evidence in the available reporting that the allegations had been proven.

The issue reached Dino in ADPF 1178, a constitutional case already on his docket. In his decision, Dino said the allegations should not remain confined to that case and instead should be examined in separate investigative proceedings overseen by the Supreme Federal Court, known as the STF.

Dino directed the Federal Police, or PF, to investigate five areas. The most concrete allegations center on contacts involving Rockbridge Network, described in reporting as a U.S. conservative donor and organizing network, and Brazilian businessmen Tallis Gomes and Pedro Sang. According to accounts cited in reporting on Dino’s order, Gomes and Sang allegedly acted in connection with Rockbridge to raise resources in the United States for the campaign of Flávio Bolsonaro.

Dino said investigators should examine the nature of those contacts and whether any money, services or other benefits were tied to campaign activity. As quoted by SBT News, Dino wrote: “Não se pode, portanto, admitir que a intermediação de pessoas ou o custeio indireto de atividades de campanha convertam recursos estrangeiros em vantagem eleitoral, com prejuízo à igualdade da disputa e à livre formação da vontade popular.”

A second line of inquiry concerns paid election-related posts attributed to foreign-based accounts that allegedly targeted Brazilian voters, often in Portuguese. Reporting on Dino’s decision said some of the content referenced Polymarket, a platform that is blocked in Brazil. Renan Santos, a presidential candidate from the Missão party, submitted examples of those ads to Brazil’s electoral court. In a representation cited by Agência Brasil, Santos alleged: “Com base no acervo probatório e nas postagens colacionadas, verifica-se um padrão: perfis estrangeiros, de forma reiterada, fazem postagens versando sobre as eleições brasileiras, todas realizadas de forma paga, quase sempre em português e voltadas ao público brasileiro”.

Dino told the PF to identify who paid for that advertising, where the money came from and whether people or entities in Brazil knowingly took part.

A third area focuses on whether alleged political-funding talks were linked to economic interests in Brazil’s rare earths and other critical minerals. Dino said it was necessary to investigate “a necessidade de esclarecer o possível vínculo entre apoio eleitoral e o interesse econômico de agentes estrangeiros nas terras raras e nos minerais críticos brasileiro,” according to Agência Brasil.

The order also told investigators to examine the nature and purpose of contacts between Rockbridge representatives and Brazilian business figures more broadly, as well as allegations of deliberate algorithmic asymmetries or manipulations by internet companies meant to favor or harm candidates.

That legal context is significant in Brazil, where electoral law prohibits foreign funding of political parties and campaigns. Allegations involving foreign money, paid foreign political posts or indirect campaign services therefore carry particular weight. Dino’s decision also referenced prior concerns raised by ABIN, Brazil’s intelligence agency, about the risk of outside actors trying to influence the 2026 election. He also cited public concerns involving Meta and election integrity, including a Meta Oversight Board report on moderation failures and a statement by U.N. experts about possible unequal treatment of political content during the campaign.

The immediate news is the opening of the inquiry itself: allegations that had circulated in complaints are now the subject of a formal Federal Police investigation under STF oversight. As of Tuesday, the investigation had just been ordered, and no public findings had been released.