US targets family of Brazil’s top judge with sanctions in rare move
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Washington’s targeting of Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ family marks an escalation in which Washington is interfering in Brazil's domestic affairs.
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This photo shows the U.S. Treasury Department building at dusk in Washington, June 6, 2019. (AP)
In a move widely described as without precedent, the US Treasury Department on Monday announced sanctions against Viviane Barci de Moraes, the wife of Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, the judge who presided over the conviction of Jair Bolsonaro for attempting a military coup in 2023.
By extending sanctions to the family of a sitting Supreme Court justice, Washington has gone far beyond its traditional practice of targeting foreign adversaries, raising alarms over interference in Brazil’s domestic judiciary. The measures freeze US-based assets tied to the Moraes family and their Lex Institute foundation.
The sanctions come just weeks after Brazil’s Supreme Court sentenced Bolsonaro to 27 years in prison for plotting to cling to power after losing the 2022 election. Justice Moraes, in his verdict, said Bolsonaro and his allies sought “to remain in power by simply ignoring democracy.”
US President Donald Trump, a close Bolsonaro ally who himself has faced accusations of subverting US democracy, has openly pressed Brazil’s courts to drop the charges. His administration has already sanctioned de Moraes directly and imposed a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused Moraes of leading “an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions, and politicized prosecutions, including against former President Jair Bolsonaro.” The statement echoed Trump’s own rhetoric dismissing his legal troubles at home as a “witch hunt.”
For many in Brazil, however, Washington’s move is seen as a direct affront to the country’s sovereignty. “This is an extraordinary intrusion into Brazil’s democratic process, sanctioning the wife of a Supreme Court justice simply because the US president doesn’t like a ruling,” said one political analyst in Brasília.
The case has also fueled broader diplomatic strains. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in a BBC interview last week, stressed: “His relationship is with Bolsonaro, not Brazil,” referring to Trump’s alignment.
De Moraes has drawn further ire from Trump’s circle by ordering federal inquiries into billionaire Elon Musk’s role in social media campaigns aimed at destabilizing Brazil’s democracy.
The US decision to weaponize the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, typically reserved for war criminals or officials in sanctioned states, against the family of a Brazilian judge is being viewed in Brasília as a dangerous precedent that blurs the line between diplomacy and coercion.
This is happening as tens of thousands of people filled the streets on Monday and the beaches of Brazil on Sunday, demanding that no amnesty be granted to former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was recently convicted of plotting a coup.
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