Federal prosecutors in Brazil announced charges against João Dorileo Leal, a top executive at Grupo Gazeta, the largest media company in Mato Grosso state, for laundering money earned from illegal gambling, Folha de São Paulo reports.
Leal was in charge of several radio stations, a TV network, and Mato Grosso’s most widely read newspaper, and he was also expected to run for mayor of Cuiabá, the state capital. According to the charges against him, Leal laundered more than $1.5 million in illicit earnings from an organized crime group, Terra explains.
Leal said he was “surprised” by the “rehashed” charges, and he says the 2002 transactions were legitimate business dealings, Midia News explains.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
