Jair Bolsonaro, 68, who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2022, is being investigated by Brazilian authorities for embezzling “diplomatic gifts” received during his presidency, including a pair of watches that were sold to Precision Watches & Jewelry in the Willow Grove Park Mall in June 2022.
According to The New York Times, a diamond Rolex and a Patek Philippe were allegedly sold by Bolsonaro’s personal aide to the store as part of a “wide-ranging conspiracy.”
An excerpt:
This month, Brazilian federal police carried out raids as part of an investigation into what it says was a broad conspiracy by Mr. Bolsonaro and several allies to embezzle expensive gifts he received as president from Saudi Arabia and other countries. In one case, authorities accuse Mr. Bolsonaro’s personal aide of selling a diamond Rolex watch and a Patek Philippe watch to a jewelry shop at the Willow Grove Park mall in Pennsylvania last year.
Mr. Bolsonaro ultimately received at least some of the $68,000 from the sale in cash, federal police officials said.
“It wasn’t out of the norm,” a man who identified himself as the owner of Precision told The Inquirer:
He declined to be identified by name because of safety concerns. He also said that he did not want to comment on the specifics of the transaction but that the shop has cooperated with authorities. Precision typically requires sellers to provide ID and sign a purchase contract when selling pre-owned watches, he said. Many of the store’s watches retail for tens of thousands of dollars.
It appears that Cid visited the store in person to make the sale, using Waze to navigate to the Willow Grove mall. He connected to the Precision WiFi network during the sale, the court documents said.
According to Philly Voice, Bolsonaro’s lawyer is arguing that the jewelry is Bolsonaro’s personal property, but the head of a Brazilian court says the gifts are state property.
For more on Precision Watches, which opened in the Willow Grove Park Mall in 2014, you can visit their Facebook page and website.
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Photo courtesy of Wikipedia Commons