Rio de Janeiro became the main epicenter of investigations against the Refit group, a fuel sector conglomerate led by businessman Ricardo Magro. From the historic Manguinhos Refinery to the luxury condominiums of Barra da Tijuca, including operations linked to money laundering, currency evasion and suspected connections with criminal organizations, the state concentrates the nucleus of one of the largest fiscal and financial offensives ever carried out in the country.
The new stage of this escalation occurred this Friday, when the Federal Police launched Operation Without Refining. One of the targets of the action was former governor Cláudio Castro, the target of search and seizure warrants in a condominium in Barra da Tijuca, in the West Zone of Rio.
The operation also targets Ricardo Magro, who had his preventive arrest ordered and his name included in Interpol’s Red Diffusion. According to investigators, the group is suspected of concealing assets, concealing assets and evading resources abroad.
In total, the Court ordered the blocking of around R$52 billion in financial assets and authorized the suspension of the economic activities of investigated companies. But this Friday’s offensive is the most recent chapter in a sequence of operations that have been expanding the siege on the group since 2025.
Historic refinery became center of investigations
Founded in 1954, the Manguinhos Refinery has occupied a symbolic space in Rio de Janeiro’s industry for decades. Located in the North Zone of the capital of Rio de Janeiro, it has become one of the most traditional structures in the fuel sector in the state. In recent years, however, the refinery’s name began to appear associated with investigations into tax fraud, money laundering and financial structures used to shield assets.
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In 2025, the company was the target of Operation Hidden Carbon, conducted by the PF with support from the Federal Revenue and state agencies. At the time, the National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels partially banned the unit’s operations.
The investigations highlighted suspicions of irregular fuel imports, tax adulteration and the use of business structures to artificially reduce taxes.
At the beginning of the year, in January, the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) ordered the total closure of Refit, the former Manguinhos refinery, which had already been operating under restrictions since 2025, when part of its activities had been suspended. The agency said that the measure was the result of the analysis of information and documents collected by the ANP, on site, in addition to analysis of the documentation sent later by the company.
Union accused group of operating ‘in the red’
In October 2025, the Attorney General’s Office of the National Treasury toughened its speech against Refit in a statement sent to the Rio Court of Justice. The body accused the group of importing practically ready-made gasoline while declaring crude oil to customs authorities — a practice that, according to prosecutors, could constitute ideological falsehood and a tax crime.
In the document, PGFN maintained that the conglomerate remained active through systematic tax evasion and accounting maneuvers. The Union also stated that companies linked to the refinery operated as an asset shield to hide assets and hinder legal collections. The prosecutors argued that allowing the refinery to fully resume operations would pose a risk to the state of Rio’s revenue and competition in the fuel sector.
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Megaoperation revealed billion-dollar structure
A few weeks later, in November 2025, a new offensive expanded the scope of the case even further. Named Poço de Lobato, the operation mobilized more than 600 public agents in five states and the Federal District. According to the Public Ministry of São Paulo and the Federal Revenue, the group had caused losses estimated at more than R$26 billion in tax debts.
The investigations pointed to a business structure considered sophisticated, based on distributors, importers, investment funds, offshore companies and intermediary companies. According to authorities, the group generated more than R$70 billion in just one year.
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Investigators claim that part of the financial mechanism used companies opened in Delaware, in the United States, as well as funds with single shareholders and financial operations designed to make it difficult to track resources.
During the operation, agents seized cash, documents, electronic equipment and precious stones.
Fuel, laundering and organized crime
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This Friday’s new operation delves into another line considered strategic by investigators: the possible connection between the fuel sector and criminal organizations operating in Rio de Janeiro.
According to the PF, Operation Sem Refino is part of investigations linked to the so-called ADPF das Favelas, an investigation that monitors connections between public agents, financial flows and organized crime structures.
Behind the scenes of the investigations, the case began to be treated as an example of an “upstairs crime”, involving sophisticated business schemes, the use of international structures and a billion-dollar impact on public revenue.
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The authorities’ suspicion is that part of the system under investigation functioned as a permanent mechanism for tax evasion and asset concealment, using everything from gas stations to financial funds and international operations.
Refit denies irregularities and claims that the tax debts discussed by the authorities are the subject of legitimate legal disputes.
