Brazil's defeated Flávio Bolsonaro insists he did not flee after defying a court order and landing in Miami

Flávio Bolsonaro, the 45-year-old defeated Brazilian presidential candidate and son of jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro, denied he had fled Brazil after arriving in Miami on Wednesday — despite defying a Supreme Court order to surrender his passports. He crossed into Argentina by van late Tuesday, flew via Ecuador on a private Gulfstream jet to avoid Brazilian airspace, and landed at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport a day after the Trump administration granted visas to him and his family. Brazil's President Lula called Bolsonaro's departure "shameful" and labelled him "the most dishonest figure I've ever seen on planet Earth."

Bolsonaro is under investigation by Brazil's Supreme Court for alleged corruption, money laundering and tax evasion across two separate cases.

His father, Jair Bolsonaro, similarly fled to Florida after losing the 2022 election to Lula, returning to Brazil three months later — before being jailed for plotting a coup.

Bolsonaro's Senate term expires in late January 2027, when he is expected to lose the special legal protections currently afforded to him as a sitting lawmaker.