Alberto Youssef

Alberto Youssef (Portuguese pronunciation: [awˈbɛʁ.tu jo(w)ˈsɛf]; born 6 October 1967) is a Brazilian black-market banker. He has been implicated in several of Brazil's largest scandals during the past generation. He was a figure in the Banestado scandal, and later was a major target of Operation Car Wash, the official investigation of corruption surrounding Petrobras, the government-controlled oil company.

Bloomberg described Youssef in January 2015 as “Brazil's black-market central banker, a career criminal who smuggled cash for the rich and powerful”. In August 2015, The New York Times called him “a convicted money launderer and former bon vivant.”

Youssef was arrested in March 2014 for violating the terms of a plea-bargaining agreement. He is currently incarcerated.

Early life and activities

Youssef is the son of Kalim Youssef, a Lebanese immigrant, and Antoinette Youssef, a Brazilian. He grew up in very modest circumstances in Londrina, a town in the state of Paraná.

When he was a boy, he sold snacks in the streets of Londrina. During his teenage years, after earning a pilot's license, he began smuggling costly electronic items and other merchandise into Brazil from Paraguay, where taxes were far lower, and selling them on. His older sister worked with him on this smuggling operation, which first put Youssef on the government's radar, in the 1980s. Also during his teens, he helped his mother sell food at a shop at the local airport.

It was at the airport that he met José Janene, a businessman and pilot who would later become a member of Congress and helped Youssef with his career.