Former PT activist is wanted by the FBI for an alleged million-dollar scam

The Brazilian journalist and former PT activist, Patrícia de Oliveira Souza Lélis Bolin, aged 29, is being sought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for an alleged million-dollar scam by posing as a lawyer in the United States.

According to a statement from the American Justice Department, dated January 12, 2024, Patrícia Lélis “posed as an immigration lawyer capable of helping foreign clients.”

“According to the indictment, on September 22, 2021, Lélis Bolin sent an attorney’s fee contract to a victim to assist in obtaining EB-5 visas for the victim’s parents. The victim made two initial payments totaling more than $135,000 based on Lélis Bolin’s claim that the money was going to a real estate development project in Texas that qualified for the EB-5 program. Instead, it is alleged that the victim’s money went into Lélis Bolin’s personal bank account. Instead of investing the money as promised, Lélis Bolin would have used the money for a down payment on her townhouse in Arlington (Texas), bathroom renovations and payment of other personal expenses, such as credit card debt”, says an excerpt of the statement.

According to the complaint, Patrícia Lélis had forged the number of a fictitious case to deceive the victim. The journalist is accused of wire fraud, illegal monetary transactions and aggravated identity theft. Respectively, the maximum sentences for these offenses are 20 years, 10 years and 2 years.

In total, Patrícia Lélis allegedly defrauded her victims of 700 thousand dollars.

When commenting on the repercussions of the arrest warrant issued by the American courts, Patrícia Lélis said she was a “victim” of persecution, allegedly, by the American government.

“Hello, Twitter and several people I don’t know but believe I owe something an explanation. Yes, the FBI in the USA is ‘looking’ for me. But you already know exactly where I am as a political exile. There were months of persecution and false accusations. My alleged crime: I did not accept being made a scapegoat against those I consider my brothers by culture and especially by political side, but rather, I ‘stole’ all the evidence I could to show my side of the story and guarantee my safety. And, these documents have already been delivered to the government, which granted me political asylum. And now publicly and safely, I can say: f* USA. And until the end I’m out of this shitty country. If you want, you can kill me, but I would never go against my own people, especially to give information to the USA. Now, I’m going to enjoy a very peaceful beach there. Kisses and more kisses”, wrote the journalist on the social network X, this Monday (15).

Patrícia Lélis made headlines in Brazilian newspapers for the first time in 2016 when she accused, without evidence, pastor and deputy Marcos Feliciano (PL-SP) of rape and other crimes. A year later, in 2017, Lélis accused deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) of threats and insults. None of the accusations were successful due to lack of evidence.

In 2018, the police investigation investigating deputy Marco Feliciano for “crimes of rape, bodily harm, kidnapping, false imprisonment, threats and witness corruption” was closed by the judge of the 4th Criminal Court of Brasília, Aimar Neres de Matos. In the same case, Lélis was indicted for extortion.

In 2021, the Civil Police of the Federal District indicted Patrícia Lélis for the crime of slanderous denunciation against deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro.

In 2019, Patrícia Lélis was arrested in the USA on false charges in the state of Virginia.

In 2021, the journalist became the target of an investigation by the PT, the party to which she was a member, for posts considered “transphobic” by the acronym. Lélis was expelled from the PT.