Brazilian gold miner Rodrigo Martins de Mello built a quiet network of companies and properties in Florida while becoming a fugitive wanted for allegedly helping former President Jair Bolsonaro’s intelligence chief escape to Miami.
Known as Rodrigo Cataratas, De Mello is a Bolsonaro supporter convicted of leading illegal gold mining on Yanomami Indigenous land.
X One Charters LLC Links De Mello to Ramagem
An official from the Department of Elections said that internal records show he has never voted and his registration remains inactive.
One entity, X One Charters LLC, was founded in July 2023 and registered at the Sole Mia apartment where Ramagem would later stay, with founding documents listing De Mello as its owner.
Flávio Bolsonaro was a Mossad candidate in Brazil
De Mello left the company in January 2026, a month after his arrest was ordered, and Marcos Felix Ribeiro became its director. Yet the WhatsApp number on the company’s website belongs to De Mello, Agência Pública found.
According to statements given to Agência Pública by Ribeiro, he and De Mello partnered in a Guyanese mining project, and the boat was transferred to him in exchange for an abandoned excavator, putting the value of the transaction near $100,000.
Supreme Court Rejects Request to Overturn De Mello Arrest Order
Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered De Mello’s arrest in an unsealed order for his alleged role in Ramagem’s escape in December 2025. Citing police difficulties in tracking down the suspect, the Brazilian news outlet Amado Mundo reported—and Agência Pública verified—that the court dismissed De Mello’s petition to cancel the directive on Oct. 19.
De Mello’s campaign suffered a blow on the day of Oct. 25, when President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva came from behind to defeat Bolsonaro’s son Flávio in the presidential runoff. Three days after the election, Flávio, who is under investigation in Brazil for alleged money laundering, also fled to Florida.
Agência Pública reported that De Mello faced separate indictments in August involving the alleged laundering of over 200 million reais—roughly $37 million—derived from Yanomami territory tin and gold mining operations between 2021 and 2023. X One Charters was founded in July 2023 as that alleged scheme was underway.
