Criminals use judge's password to prevent arrest of suspect believed to be 'Scorpion of the PCC'

The São Paulo Court of Justice states that credentials linked to a judge from Rio Grande do Sul were used to tamper with the arrest warrant of businessman Alex Leandro Bispo dos Santos, known as Baianão or "Escorpião do PCC," in the BNMP (National Registry of Criminal Measures and Arrests).

The primary suspicion is of a hacking operation, according to the Rio Grande do Sul judiciary. With the alterations, the wanted individual's record began displaying the name and taxpayer ID number of another person. In practice, Alex ceased to appear as a fugitive when his name was searched by police forces across the country.

The tampering was discovered after the São Paulo Public Prosecutor's Office noticed, on September 16, that Alex's arrest warrant no longer appeared in the BNMP.

He is a defendant accused of killing his partner, Maria Katiane Gomes da Silva, 25, in November of last year. According to the investigation, he allegedly threw the young woman from the balcony of the apartment where they lived, on the tenth floor of a building in Vila Andrade, in the southern zone of São Paulo. Police say he is a member of the PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital).

The businessman's defense denies the crime and claims the young woman died by suicide. It also denies that he belongs to the criminal faction.

On August 6 of this year, Judge Antonio Carlos Pontes de Souza granted the businessman provisional release, and he was freed. The Public Prosecutor's Office appealed, and Justice Hermann Herschander reinstated the arrest order on August 10, citing the defendant's "dangerousness."

The fraud involving the arrest warrant is believed to have occurred on August 23. A review by the TJ-SP found that Alex's RJI (Individual Judicial Record) was altered using the password and login credentials of a magistrate from the city of Planalto, in Rio Grande do Sul.

According to the Rio Grande do Sul judiciary, the credentials had been "hacked/stolen" and were also used to fraudulently modify and sign other documents.

The matter was referred to the CNJ (National Council of Justice) for investigation. The CNJ told Folha that it does not comment on specific cases.

The Public Prosecutor's Office reported that, as of now, no one responsible for the fraud has been identified and that Alex is considered a fugitive. The record has been corrected.

The businessman's attorney, Eugênio Malavasi, said he was unaware of the alteration in the national database and stated he learned of the episode through the news report. According to him, Alex is aware of the existence of the arrest warrant and is awaiting the outcome of appeals before deciding on a possible surrender to the justice system.

In addition to the homicide charge, Alex dos Santos's name was also mentioned during investigations related to the financing of the film "Dark Horse," which deals with former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Favela Conectada Serviço e Tecnologia, a company in which he was a partner, was subcontracted by the ICB (Instituto Conhecer Brasil), belonging to businesswoman Karina Ferreira da Gama, under a contract worth R$108 million with the São Paulo City Hall for the installation and operation of wireless internet access points in communities.

Karina is the film's producer. Police suspect that part of these funds was directed toward the production of the work.

The companies deny any irregularities.