A look at the investigations that spooked Brazil's Flávio Bolsonaro

Brazil's right-wing senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who fled to the US in self-imposed exile after losing a presidential election to incumbent leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is the target of several investigations.

Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered him to surrender his passports after the election.

Bolsonaro appeared in a video on social media saying he would comply with the order, before making his stealthy exit from Brazil.

Here are some of the investigations facing the senator, who loses his parliamentary immunity when his eight-year term expires in January.

The biopic about his father

The most high-profile case centres on the unreleased film Dark Horse starring US actor Jim Caviezel as Flávio's father Jair Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to 27 years for plotting a coup when he lost 2022 elections to Lula.

In May, the outlet Intercept Brasil revealed audio recordings in which Flávio Bolsonaro negotiated approximately US$24 million to finance the film with banker Daniel Vorcaro, who is jailed over one of Brazil's biggest-ever fraud cases.

Before the leak, Flávio Bolsonaro had denied knowing Vorcaro, or that he had financed the movie.

In July, the Supreme Court ordered a probe into the financing of the film, and whether it involved corruption, money-laundering or the illegal movement of currency.

Flávio acknowledged Vorcaro had funded the film, but insisted it was a private business deal that was "completely legal."

The lawyer friend

In another probe, police are investigating whether Flávio Bolsonaro laundered money and moved funds out of the country in collaboration with his close friend, the lawyer Willer Tomaz.

The case is under judicial seal, but it was in connection with this affair that Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Flávio Bolsonario to surrender his passports and also forbade contact with Tomaz.

Police feared Flávio would flee, especially after his brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, who also went into self-imposed exile in the United States, suggested in a podcast that he should leave Brazil if he lost.

According to media reports, Tomaz moved to the United States after becoming a target in a wider investigation into illegal deductions from pension payments – a major corruption scandal in Brazil that impacted around nine million retirees.

Tomaz denied connection to the fraud.

Local media have reported Flávio Bolsonaro shared a bank account with Tomaz and investigators are probing their business relationship.

Foreign campaign financing

Another Supreme Court justice on Tuesday ordered police to investigate alleged foreign funding of Flávio Bolsonaro's election campaign and other interference from abroad like social media "manipulation."

Lula's campaign complained about interference in the election by Meta, the US parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, claiming "algorithmic manipulation."

Meta denies taking any actions to favour one side in the election, but previously said that some of Lula's campaign ads had been mistakenly deactivated due to technical errors.

Past accusations

Before his entry into national politics, Flávio Bolsonaro was at the centre of a scandal when he was a lawmaker in Rio de Janeiro.

He was accused of taking a portion of his aides' salaries in a kickback scheme.

According to prosecutors, some of the money he received was laundered through a chocolate shop in which he was a partner.

The case collapsed in 2021, when a court threw out the evidence obtained during the investigation and the charges were dropped in 2022.