COVID-19 aside, much of Brazil’s 2020 political drama has revolved around President Jair Bolsonaro’s institution-bending efforts to shield his family from investigations in Rio de Janeiro, their home state. In April, his erstwhile “super-judge,” justice minister Sérgio Moro, resigned, alleging presidential interference with the federal police. More recently, chaos has reigned in the office of Brazil’s prosecutor general, Augusto Aras, a Bolsonaro ally whose decisions have constantly favored the president and his sons.

Central to Bolsonaro’s activity in Rio de Janeiro is a family aide named Fabrício Queiroz. Queiroz’s friendship with the president dates back to 1984 when he served as an army recruit under Bolsonaro. On leaving the army, Queiroz joined Rio’s military police. He remained friends with the future president and worked for his eldest son, current senator Flávio Bolsonaro, between 2007 and 2018 after joining his parliamentary team in the Rio state assembly on leave from the police. While his role was apparently to provide security for the politician, Queiroz was essentially Flávio’s right-hand man for more than a decade.

The role of Queiroz as the Bolsonaro family’s “Mr Fix-It” has come under intense scrutiny following numerous alarming allegations: that he ran a “ghost” employee scheme for Flávio, who siphoned off salaries of no-show employees for personal use; that he was involved with paramilitary police militias; and his (and Flávio’s) association with Adriano da Nóbrega, the now-dead suspected founder of the death squad believed to have carried out the assassination of socialist Rio city council member Marielle Franco in 2018.