Brazil's top court convicts Eduardo Bolsonaro of courting U.S. help in father's legal battle

BRASILIA - A panel of Brazil's Supreme Court voted on Tuesday to convict Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, of courting U.S. interference in his father's coup plot trial last year.

The panel's four justices each backed the conviction. They were expected to discuss the sentence later on Tuesday.

The office of Brazil's Prosecutor General had charged Eduardo Bolsonaro with courting U.S. authorities to help his father's case by imposing sanctions on the court's justices and tariffs on Brazilian goods. Both the tariffs and the sanctions were later scaled.

The younger Bolsonaro, a former lawmaker, moved to the United States in 2025, months before the trial that convicted the right-wing ex-president of plotting a coup. In the U.S., he has been active building support, especially from the Trump administration, for his father.

Eduardo Bolsonaro said in a statement after Tuesday's conviction that he had not been properly notified about the court's legal process.

He has told Reuters that his work in the U.S. was not aimed at getting his father acquitted by Brazilian courts, but at forcing the Brazilian Supreme Court to punish officials who, according to the son, were not complying with Brazil's constitution.

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito in Brasilia; additional reporting by Andre Romani and Luciana Magalhaes in Sao Paulo; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 1:59 PM.