USA decision: see the possible economic impacts of classifying the PCC and CV as terrorist groups

PCC and CV are mafia organizations, not terrorists, says prosecutor Lincoln Gakiya
The impacts of the classification of Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV) as terrorist groups by the United States are not yet completely known, but Brazil could be economically harmed by the measure.
The reason, according to researchers and investigators interviewed by g1, is that the factions have used the national financial system to launder money - as has also been observed in other countries with their organizations criminals.
Carbo Oculto, a Federal Police operation launched in 2025 and with recent developments in 2026, for example, investigates the PCC's infiltration of the financial market and the formal economy (see details below).
"As we know from the police operations already carried out, the penetration of illegal money is very large in the legal economy. Imagine, for example, an agribusiness operator who does business with a soy transport company that is used to launder PCC money. This agribusinessman could be tried in the USA", says Thiago Rodrigues, professor of International Relations at the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) and researcher at the Brazilian Public Security Forum.
Criminal factions in Brazil in the focus of USA
The USA announced the inclusion of the PCC and the CV in two lists: that of Specially Designated Global Terrorists ("Specially Designated Global Terrorists", or SDGTs) and that of Foreign Terrorist Organizations ("Foreign Terrorist Organizations", or FTOs). USA.
The inclusion of factions on the second list has much broader consequences, according to Rodrigues, because it "projects the ability of the United States to prosecute people from third countries who have relations with groups that are listed as terrorists."
In other words, "the financial activity of a group in Brazil can be prosecuted in the USA", both in the civil and criminal spheres. US criminal legal system: a politician, a public figure, a businessman, a banker - even if he is not doing business in the US, but is doing business in his own country", says Rodrigues.
The example of Carbono Oculto
- The Federal Police carries out Operation Carbono Oculto, in the building located at number 3732 Avenida Faria Lima, the country's main financial center, in the west zone of São Paulo, on the morning of this Thursday, August 28, 2025.
WERTHER SANTANA/ESTADÃO CONTÚDO
Prosecutor Lincoln Gakiya, who has worked in the fight against the PCC for 21 years and is one of the investigators of Operation Hidden Carbon, also points out that the new US measure could make the country suffer "economic sanctions of a very serious nature".
The PF operation identified that fintechs, which provide digital services similar to those of banks, mixed clean money and money originating from crime in "pocket accounts" opened in large financial institutions.
The investigations also revealed that the scheme also used the fuel sector to carry out money laundering, making it difficult to track illicit resources.
"See this example: gas stations belonging to people linked to the PCC carried out transactions with other groups, such as Copape [a company that mixes gasoline], and in turn the money earned from these transactions ended up in the financial market, in a fund belonging to the Reag management company [investigated by the PF]", said Gakiya in an interview with journalist Natuza Nery on the podcast O Assunto this Friday (29).
"Reag invests part of its resources, for example, at Banco Master, which in turn carries out securities transactions with several large banks in the country and which also has financial operations with American banks.

If we were to take the interpretation given to this classification of terrorism literally, you could sanction these Brazilian banks - which had no direct contact with any member of the PCC", explained the prosecutor.
The sanctions, according to Gakiya, could include the freezing of assets and the prohibition of transacting with any American institution - which would be especially problematic for banks, which are interconnected to the US financial system.
"[The new classification] It could affect everything from the banking system to tourism in Rio de Janeiro. January, passing through agriculture, technology companies, the Stock Exchange. Brazil is not an economy that is poorly integrated into the global economy, it is the seventh largest economy in the world. It is not Venezuela, which is a crude oil exporting country. Brazil is a complex and very integrated economic system", says Thiago Rodrigues.
A representative of a large Brazilian bank interviewed by the report minimized, however, the possible impacts of the measure announced by the United States.
For the professional, Brazilian financial institutions already operate with robust compliance and money laundering prevention programs. "The fintechs that do not follow such measures are the ones that should be impacted", he said privately.
Keeping an eye on the tentacles of organized crime in the financial system, the Central Bank has adopted rules to improve origin identification and resource tracking mechanisms.
History in the USA
According to International Relations professor Thiago Rodrigues, there were already groups similar to the CV and the PCC on the US terrorist lists since last year.
As soon as he took office, in 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order for the American State Department to include organized crime on these lists. Sinaloa, from Mexico, Trem de Aragua, from Venezuela, and Mara Salvatrucha, from El Salvador.
Also according to Rodrigues, since 2021 the PCC faction has already been on a third list of the American government, classified by the Treasury Department as an international criminal organization. This list specifically provides for the confiscation of assets and the arrest of people involved in business with the PCC within the USA.
This classification, however, has had few results in the last five years, according to according to Rodrigues. Rodrigues.
"What we believe is that the presence [of people] from the PCC in the United States is negligible, it is not substantial. There is no initiative, as far as researchers know, for the PCC to enter the United States", he explains.
"Now, this new list [of terrorist groups] is much more political than technical, because it places these groups in another narrative - of the war against terrorism, of a very dangerous enemy that justifies interference in the political systems of other countries", he states.

Source: G1

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