Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice (STJ) has sentenced Sandra Inês Rusciolelli, an appeals judge at the Bahia Court of Justice, to 14 years and 20 days in prison. The sentence is to be served initially under a closed regime, and the court also ordered her removal from public office and barred her from receiving compulsory retirement benefits.
The special court’s unanimous ruling came in a criminal case stemming from Operation Faroeste, a Federal Police investigation into an alleged scheme to sell judicial decisions to facilitate illegal land appropriation in western Bahia. Rusciolelli was convicted of passive corruption and money laundering.
Investigators said businesspeople paid bribes to judges through lawyers in exchange for rulings that favored claims to land. The STJ’s case also resulted in prison sentences for Rusciolelli’s son, Vasco Rusciolelli, and other defendants. Vasco, a lawyer who admitted taking part in negotiations over the sale of decisions, received 13 years and 11 months for passive corruption, money laundering and criminal association.
According to the Federal Police, Vasco received at least 250,000 reais for his mother to issue a favorable decision for a company. The Federal Prosecution Service said the pair negotiated bribes worth 4 million reais and received 2.4 million reais.
Sandra and Vasco had both signed plea agreements with prosecutors. Sandra’s deal, validated by the STJ in June 2021, was described as the first plea agreement by a judge of her rank in Brazil and included references to 68 people, among them 12 Bahia appeals judges, 12 other judges and 15 lawyers.
In November 2024, Justice Og Fernandes canceled the agreements after accepting a request from federal prosecutors, who said the pair had stopped cooperating, missed hearings and failed to pay fines required under the deals. Evidence obtained through the agreements remained admissible, but the two lost the negotiated benefits. Sandra’s defense said at the time that she had sought to end her agreement because authorities had breached confidentiality.
The STJ also convicted businessman Nelson José Vigolo, owner of Grupo Bom Jesus Agropecuária, and lawyer Vanderlei Chilante of active corruption and money laundering. Lawyer Júlio César Cavalcanti Ferreira, a former adviser to the Bahia court and the operation’s first cooperating witness, received a judicial pardon.
The STJ’s special court is made up of the tribunal’s 15 longest-serving justices and hears criminal cases involving public officials. Other judicial figures have also been convicted in cases related to Operation Faroeste, including appeals judge Maria do Socorro Barreto Santiago and retired judge Sérgio Humberto de Quadros Sampaio.
Sources: Folha Poder.