The United States on Monday announced sanctions targeting Viviane Barci de Moraes, the wife of Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who presided over the trial that ultimately convicted former president Jair Bolsonaro on coup-related charges.
Justice de Moraes himself was previously sanctioned by the US in July, amid mounting tensions over the high-profile trial. President Donald Trump, a long-time ally of Bolsonaro, has repeatedly criticized the proceedings, calling them a “witch hunt.”
The latest measures extend the US Treasury Department’s pressure to the Moraes family and their associated legal firm, the Institute of Legal Studies (Lex) in São Paulo. Under the sanctions, Viviane Barci de Moraes and Lex are barred from conducting any financial transactions with US citizens or companies. Their assets in the United States have been frozen, and their visas suspended.
“Alexandre de Moraes is responsible for an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions, and politicized prosecutions — including actions against former President Jair Bolsonaro,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio added that de Moraes has used the courts to “authorize arbitrary pre-trial detentions, weaponize judicial power, and suppress freedom of expression.”
The sanctions come in the wake of Bolsonaro’s September 11 sentencing, when Brazil’s Supreme Court handed the former president a 27-year prison term for his role in the attempted coup following his 2022 election defeat to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
