The first whistleblower of , the former director of Petrobras 2022, leaving outstanding obligations in his collaboration agreement and massive debts, which are now the subject of legal dispute.
Still at the beginning of Lava Jato, he gave up multimillion-dollar assets abroad —which he admitted to be of illicit origin— and committed to paying a compensatory fine in exchange for benefits, such as serving house arrest. Their statements, alongside those made by the money changer, brought a group of construction companies and political parties to the center of the investigation in 2014, paving the way for the operation to be deepened.
After his death from cancer three years ago, his widow Marici was appointed executor.
With the case in progress, lawyer Fernando Fernandes demanded in court the right to receive R$5 million for the defense made at the beginning of the operation, maintaining that he has preference for the values compared to civil compensation in the plea bargain agreement.
Fernandes argued that this debt is food in nature, being a privileged credit, as established by the Statute of the (Brazilian Bar Association). In August, the lawyer went to the (Supreme Federal Court) asking that all values and assets blocked in Paraná, where Lava Jato is taking place, be sent to the Family Court in (RJ), where the inventory process is taking place.
The lawyer stated at the time that the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) has already recognized that it has credit preference.
In 2014, upon becoming a whistleblower, he had agreed to give up US$26 million (the equivalent today of R$140 million) held abroad, in addition to paying a compensatory fine of another R$5 million.
According to a Federal document from 2024, after her death, the widow listed assets and rights from the estate totaling R$11 million. She argued that she is entitled to half of the common gross estate.
Compensation fine amounts were not declared as debt.
In 2023, the Federal Court of Criminal Execution in Paraná, where the operation is being processed, reported a remaining balance of the compensatory fine of R$7 million. The Federal Public Ministry then obtained a lien for that amount, noted in the former director’s inventory, to guarantee the payment of these obligations.
But there is still a greater liability in the assets, originating from a tax execution initiated by the Union. Costa was prosecuted on charges of not paying taxes, and the total of this debt, plus a fine, was estimated in 2023 at R$97.2 million. In this case, the assets were also requested to be seized in the inventory.
The family also went to the Federal Court of Curitiba to try to unlock resources to pay other lawyers, who take care of the defense today. The request was denied in July by federal judge Carolina Lebbos, who considered that the blocked assets “arose from criminal activity”.
A boat that belonged to the former director has already been sold for R$1.4 million, deposited in a judicial account. The equivalent of R$1 million in dollar bills was seized from his home in 2014 and is kept in a bank in Rio, according to information last year.
Furthermore, a Land Rover car that had been seized and which was fundamental in the Lava Jato investigations, for pointing out the link between the money changer Youssef and the scheme in , ended up transferred to in Paraná.
In Petrópolis, the responsible judge Claudia Reis said in an order in November that the documentation relating to the listed assets had not yet been presented and that eventually “the issue relating to the preference of the noted credits will be analyzed”.
When contacted, the defense team for the former director’s family said they would not comment on the matter.
Costa was appointed to the Petrobras Supply Directorate in 2004, during the first Lula (PT) government, remaining in the position until 2012. He was sponsored in the post by leaders of and described to the Court a bribery scheme by contractors involving parties.
He was the target of the first phase of Lava Jato, on March 17, 2014, and arrested days later on charges of destroying evidence.
He ended up sentenced to more than 70 years in prison in the case in Paraná, having remained in a closed regime for five months because of the agreement signed. Two daughters were also prosecuted in Lava Jato, accused of embarrassing the investigations. The family members also signed a collaboration agreement with the courts at the time.
