Brazilian police target A55 in betting-related Operation Azzardo

Fintech A55 Sociedade de Crédito Direto is the main financial target identified so far in Operation Azzardo, which the Federal District Civil Police (PCDF) launched on Thursday. According to the investigation, money sent by bettors to sites without federal authorisation went into more than 100 accounts opened at A55, which moved about R$1bn together with companies in the same group.

A55 is based on Avenida Brigadeiro Faria Lima and is authorised by the central bank to operate as a direct credit company. According to the PCDF, it was the recipient of several Pix payment requests generated by the sites under investigation. Part of the money then went on to investigated companies and to platforms without federal authorisation, including through conversion into crypto-assets, according to the same account. The PCDF said the institution, two companies of the same group and their executives are targets of the search and blocking measures carried out in the operation. The block applies only to the company's own funds and leaves the accounts of customers who are not under investigation untouched.

On 30 July 2026 the central bank had announced its intention to cancel A55's authorisation to operate. Pagsmile had announced in March the purchase of 49% of A55, but that deal ended when RB Holding completed its acquisition of the fintech. In a statement, Pagsmile said it has no shareholding in, and no operational link with, A55. A55 had not commented when the report was last updated.

The investigated network used dozens of front companies in the Federal District and moved more than R$730m. The front companies were opened between February and July 2026, with identical share capital and addresses in Sobradinho, Sobradinho II and Ceilândia. Pix payments went to companies with no declared link to betting, such as a psychosocial care clinic and a tarot shop in Sobradinho. People in vulnerable situations were reportedly paid R$200 to hand over their personal data.

The PCDF did not disclose the names of three companies that obtained accreditations from the state lotteries of Paraíba and Rio de Janeiro and that are at the centre of the inquiry. According to the PCDF, the state accreditations did not replace the federal authorisation required for fixed-odds betting, and none of the sites investigated appeared among the permissions granted. The authorisations ceased to have effect after the transition period under Provisional Measure 1.394/2026. One of the three is a consortium that was authorised only 15 days after it was set up. Another appears in financial reports as the final collector of the sums gathered by the Pix accounts.

The inquiry dates back five months and grew out of communications from the Ministry of Finance's Secretariat of Prizes and Bets, ahead of the ban on bets. The police officers mobilised numbered about 200, drawn from six federal units. Of the 50 search and seizure warrants, 24 were for the Federal District. The authorised ceiling for the asset block is R$3.483bn. The block targets 64 individuals and 120 legal entities. Crypto-assets worth R$280 thousand were blocked. Nobody was arrested in this phase.

Those investigated may face charges including operating an unauthorised lottery, fraud by electronic means, false declaration, money laundering and criminal organisation. The next steps are to identify the real owners of the companies and trace the final destination of the money.