Brazil's Supreme Court denied TelexFree's 13th appeal between August 28th and 30th, blocking the company's attempt to overturn a preliminary injunction from the Acre Public Prosecutor. This marks another legal setback for the alleged pyramid scheme, which has struggled to lift restrictions imposed across the country.
TelexFree initially failed to persuade any Brazilian judge its business model was legitimate. Its recent strategy shifted to challenging injunctions on legal technicalities. This approach has proven as ineffective as arguing the merits of its operations.
The company's latest Supreme Court filing claimed it "would never be successful" obtaining an appeal from lower courts. There was no legal precedent or basis for this argument. The judge quickly denied the request.
Judge Barroso stated that Supreme Court precedent allows "extraordinary appeals" only after a case concludes. Such appeals must also be filed in the court that granted the initial injunction. He also called it "unacceptable" to file an extraordinary appeal to stop a judgment based on "precautionary measures," which described the Acre injunction.
Separately, TelexFree faced another blow when the Criminal Chamber Court of Acre lifted the injunction suspending the company's criminal investigation. Judge Fransico Djalma had previously granted that suspension.
Three judges heard the matter this time. Eva Evangelista and Samoel Evangelista voted against Djalma, who maintained his support for the suspension. So, police in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo can now resume their criminal investigation against TelexFree. The judges also confirmed that other states could open their own criminal inquiries.
This matters because local police can only interrogate TelexFree affiliates within their own jurisdiction. Espírito Santo police, for example, could only question affiliates based there. Broader criminal investigations across multiple states would give law enforcement access to a much larger pool of individuals for questioning. The reinstatement of the Espírito Santo investigation marks a significant step for law enforcement seeking to question TelexFree affiliates nationwide.