Lawyer of the Bolsonaro clan, he is one of the most influential names in politics in Atibaia, in the interior of São Paulo, after being the main electoral campaigner for the current mayor, Daniel Martini ().
Wassef joined Martini in the PL and took charge of the campaign in 2024. He also presented names that could form the secretariat, including a client of his, and participated in a meeting at city hall, even without a management position. While Martini calls him a “deputy without a mandate”, opponents classify him as the city’s de facto mayor, which he denies.
In Atibaia, 60 km from the capital, Wassef has an office in which the pivot of the “rachadinha” case, Fabrício Queiroz, was found. Although a senator for the PL of Rio de Janeiro, Flávio himself participated in one of Martini’s campaign events last year and had his presence announced by Wassef at the inauguration of a PL regional headquarters in Atibaia this Friday (7).
Since June, the lawyer . For the inauguration of the headquarters, Wassef also announced the presence of , national president of the party, and federal deputy Sóstenes Cavalcante (RJ), leader of the party in the Chamber of Deputies.
Questioned by SheetWassef stated that he attributes his political influence in the region to the visibility allowed by what he says is a “relationship of competence, loyalty and protection from Bolsonaro”. “I used this power to elect an honest mayor and fight the Atibaia mafia.”
Wassef is originally from São Paulo, but has been visiting Atibaia since childhood and owns three properties in the city, according to a declaration of assets sent to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) in 2022. One of them, known for having sheltered Queiroz, is where he stays on his trips to Atibaia. That’s where the Sheet met him, on Tuesday (4), to ask about the influence exerted on the city hall.
The lawyer refused to give interviews and sent a response this Thursday (6). Two days earlier, on the Portal da Cidade Atibaia podcast, he sought to attribute the presence of the report to one of his enemies in the region: “Today the press knocked on the door of my house, of my law office in Jardim dos Pinheiros. And it came to my attention that he was the one who ordered it.”
Wassef was referring to fellow lawyer Edevaldo de Oliveira, his former right-hand man, who he is with. At the time, Edevaldo said that he resigned from the PL presidency in Atibaia because Wassef used the party to promote personal interests.
In the TSE, it is stated that Edevaldo presided over the municipal directory only between July 2024 and February 2025. Wassef reported, in the podcast, that he asked his then ally to remain at the head of the party during the elections so that he himself could take care of Martini’s campaign. He accuses his former ally of defaming him around the city.
“Edevaldo de Oliveira has no link or link with the PL, with anyone at the top. I would like to take this opportunity to say one more thing: he has no link or link with the Bolsonaro family. He is not and has never been a lawyer for absolutely anyone in the Bolsonaro family”, said Wassef in the interview.
A former federal highway police officer, Edevaldo has already advocated for Queiroz and Agostinho Moraes da Silva, another former advisor to Flávio in the “rachadinha” case. He is named in the city as one of those responsible for helping to hide Queiroz in Wassef’s house, although he denies it. On Edevaldo’s Instagram, there are several photos of him with his former advisor.
Bet on Atibaia
This Friday’s event is seen by this group as a green light from the PL that Wassef will be the region’s bet for federal deputy next year. The new headquarters is a large house on Avenida Lucas Nogueira Garcez, in a prime area of the city.
One of the lawyer’s trump cards to attract political capital, according to his supporters, was his bet on Martini. In 2020, Martini was a candidate for mayor for Rede, a base party of the Lula (PT) government. Four years later, he was elected by Bolsonaro’s PL with the help of Wassef, who attracted Flávio and senator Marcos Pontes (PL-SP) to form the campaign platform in the interior.
If during the Bolsonaro government Wassef was called an informal minister due to his presence in the day-to-day life of the federal Executive, it was Martini who first adapted the new role of the lawyer to the reality of Atibaia.
“I consider Wassef a deputy without a mandate, he has many contacts”, said the mayor in an interview with the portal O Atibaiense, in October last year. “Wassef will have an important role in dialogue with the state and federal governments”, he added.
Wassef’s venture in the city had its drawbacks. In addition to the break with Edevaldo, other former allies accuse him of having the final say on city hall decisions.
“This statement is completely false and borders on disrespect,” Martini said in a statement to Sheet.
Both Wassef and the Martini management publicly deny that the lawyer appointed secretaries. However, the head of Tourism, Alexander Rossa, has been a Wassef client since July 2024.
Born in Russia, Alexander has lived in Brazil since 2018 and is the target of the Federal Public Ministry on charges of fraud and asset concealment. He has already been arrested in both Russia and Brazil and is represented by Wassef in an action that is currently pending before the Superior Court of Justice. The defense attributes the continuation of the case to an error in the judicial system, saying that the Prosecutor’s Office itself has previously expressed a view to ending the process.
“All appointments and hiring of the municipal secretariat follow strict legal compliance criteria, including the presentation and analysis of extensive supporting documentation, such as negative certificates from the various spheres of the Judiciary and control bodies required by the Organic Law of the Municipality”, claims the city hall in a note.
Wassef also denies participating in meetings at Atibaia City Hall, contradicting reports from officials interviewed under secrecy by the Sheet that there is free traffic in the area. “Send someone to show photos and footage of me going to city hall or anywhere. I almost never stop in Atibaia,” he told the local podcast.
The Martini administration itself admitted that Wassef participated in a meeting in February this year with the region’s Civil Police leadership.
“During the meeting, which dealt with issues of public interest, Mr. Wassef participated in a discussion about the possibility of donating land from City Hall to the Government of the State of São Paulo for the implementation of a new police station in Atibaia”, explains the city hall.
The report obtained records that, in January, Wassef participated in another meeting at the location to listen to Victor Murad Filho, Secretary of Digital Transformation of Espírito Santo. The reason for his presence at the meeting was not explained.
Management, in response to a request made by Sheet via LAI (Access to Information Law), he claimed that the city hall “does not have access records on its premises”.
“Therefore, there are no records of nominal control of entry into the City Hall of any citizen, not even Mr. Frederick Wassef”, responded the Secretary of Government of Atibaia, Cláudio Peixoto da Silva.
