The owner of Refit, who lives in luxury in Miami, had Eduardo Cunha as a political ally, but today he influences different organizations

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The tentacles of the man behind the country’s largest tax debtor are everywhere: executive, legislative and judicial, in addition to the National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), which regulates the sector.

This story didn’t start yesterday. Magro acquired Manguinhos in 2008, but previously worked as a tax lawyer and became involved in the industry through relationships with fuel distributors. Among the firm’s clients was Eduardo Cunha.

During the short government of PT member Benedita da Silva in Palácio Guanabara, in 2002, a movement attributed to Magro resulted in the decree that changed the way ICMS was billed and facilitated Manguinhos’ projects. The model was renewed in 2005, under the leadership of Rosinha Garotinho, and would become the center of a conflict between the refinery and Sérgio Cabral, who expropriated the company in 2012.

The regime allowed the tax to be collected at destination and not at origin – in translation of “economic”, it was no longer collected at the refinery and began to be billed later, at retail. The system could only be applied to interstate operations, but the problem, investigations showed, was that the refinery project contained fraud.

The tax documents were sent to distributors in other states, but the fuel ended up being dumped in Rio itself. Thus, taxation was avoided in both phases and gasoline could be offered at a low price, making competition unfair. A CPI of the Legislative Assembly estimated tax evasion at 850 million reais between 2002 and 2006.

With Manguinhos facing financial problems, Grupo Magro bought the refinery in 2008 for just 7 million reais. From then on, the businessman will begin to make himself better known. The person who assumed a leadership role in the Council shortly after the acquisition was PT member Marcelo Sereno, linked to former Minister of the Civil House José Dirceu, who had been chief of staff of the Benedita government – ​​the same administration that enabled the special ICMS regime.

In 2010, a civil police investigation would place politicians, particularly Cunha, at the heart of the so-called fuel mafia in the state, of which Magro would be a central element, which would focus on tax juggling with distributors. The then MP, whose involvement led to the case being referred to the STF, was wiretapped from August 2009. In these calls, he promised to help resolve the difficulties Magro was having with Braskem.

— They don’t sell me (gasoline)… They said they would sell it by the end of the month, so they are blocking my shipment, which makes things difficult — said Magro.

– All right. I’ll hug the guy later, the congressman promised.

— Thursday morning, can I come to your office? — then asked the businessman.

— Yes — Cunha replied, the day before, giving good news to the interlocutor:

— The boy already has news for you from Braskem… Come on, what time do you want to go to the office? Do you want to go to home or office?

Although he denied “any business activity” with Magro, Cunha resumed contact and challenged the accusers to “prove any act on my part that would have benefited anyone outside the law.” The investigation was archived in 2013. Previously, Veja revealed that the investigation was leaked during the 2009 investigation.

Sereno, of the PT, has always denied the accusations of irregularities in the refinery, his participation in the Benedita decree and the correlation between the episodes.

Another person with a connection to Magro revealed in this investigation, which had an impact on the ANP, was the senator at the time, Lobão Filho (MDB-MA). The recordings showed that an adviser to the agency had scheduled a meeting between the businessman and the politician, whose father was minister of Mines and Energy. Shortly after, the decisions of the ANP leaders appointed by the minister favored Manguinhos.

The investigative intrigue that currently torments Refit finds support in the past. These include suspicions of fuel adulteration and maneuvers to avoid paying taxes that would facilitate the expansion of the company and the fortune of Magro, who in his spare time DJs in the stronghold of wealthy Brazilians in the United States.

According to the IRS, the tax evasion network caused more than 26 billion reais in losses. One practice would be to import “ready-made” gasoline, but declare the material as oil that would still be refined – a way to pay less tax.

In a note, Refit said the debts “are being contested in court, through legitimate and public litigation, as is the case with several companies.” He specifies that “all company taxes are declared, there is no concealment of income and there is no form of tax evasion”. It also ensures that it “continuously monitors fuel market participants, as well as the delivery of all fuel it produces.”

It was in Miami that Magro accumulated wealth. When he separated from his ex-wife, he traded a mansion worth 18.7 million reais for one owned by NBA star LeBron James. There are cars and a boat.

As a DJ, a hobby he pursues under the nickname Orgam – an anagram of his last name – he produces sets which he publishes on the SoundCloud platform. One of them, called “warming farewell flower and rueda”, indicates that it was made for the president of União Brasil, Antonio Rueda.

In May this year, at an event in New York, Magro interacted with Rio Governor Cláudio Castro (PL), secretaries and Senator Ciro Nogueira (PP-PI) — considered his main interlocutor in Brasilia. The amendment to exclude refining companies from the project to combat persistent debtors came from the Piauí senator.

Magro supports finance secretaries in Rio and influences the appointment of ANP directors, people in the sector say. Last week, the public prosecutor at the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU) requested an end to the transfer of the server Daniel Maia to the ANP, of which he is director. The representation based on a conflict of interest was made after Piauí magazine showed that Maia was seated at the same table as Magro during the New York event. Refit denies the link.

Rio’s current Treasury director, Juliano Pasqual, is linked to the family of TCU Minister Aroldo Cedraz, who employed him in government when he was a federal deputy. Tiago Cedraz, Aroldo’s son, is Magro’s lawyer.

In Rio, Bruno Dubeux, then head of the State Attorney General’s Office (PGE), was replaced in 2023 because, according to his interlocutors, he did not agree to approve new facilities for the refinery. The ANP even banned Refit in September this year due to irregularities, but released it a month later. The government, via the PGE, took legal action to defend this ban.

The latest tax exemption project for state businesses was approved in October in Alerj. Among opponents, no one called the proposal “Refis,” the measure’s official name. It is known as the “Ricardo Magro law”.

Key moments of the trajectory and the Magro

• 2008 — Already active in the sector, he bought the Manguinhos refinery, in which he had influence.
• 2010 — Civil police announce an investigation into the tax evasion “mafia,” and Eduardo Cunha is implicated.
• 2016 — He is arrested for allegedly damaging the Postalis pension fund through fraudulent emissions.
• 2017 — In receivership, Manguinhos changes its name to carry out a “rebranding”. Turn Refit.
• 2025 — Federal Revenue Operation hits the company and reports losses of 26 billion reais.