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Nelma Kodama was an enabler.
You would call her…
and the problem would be solved.
My greatest achievement,
even more so than going beyond where any woman
had gone in this field before
was that I had done so with artistry.
NELMA KODAMA: THE QUEEN OF DIRTY MONEY
Was I breaking the law?
What is "breaking the law"?
To be a dollar dealer, is to become the law.
Following your own set of rules.
Not doing things
by the Central Bank's rules.
It's a code of honor, of character and of your word.
Whenever I would sit at my desk and begin answering phone calls,
it was as if I were conducting an orchestra.
What a beautiful thing.
You are buying and selling money.
You don't know who's on the other side of the line,
but nonetheless, that person trusts that you will get the job done.
It's called "white-collar crime" for a reason.
You can always make yourself look cleaner than you really are.
Dollar dealer Nelma Kodama was the first person
arrested in Operation Car Wash.
She was arrested while boarding a flight to Italy
with 200,000 euros in her underwear.
How was Beethoven able to play?
Or Mozart?
How were they able to do it?
She was convicted of corruption, organized crime,
and currency evasion.
Do you remember her singing "Amada Amante"?
It was quite an iconic moment, with her singing
and a few congressmen singing along.
It seems more like a banana republic.
Her understanding of crime differs,
but financial crimes are all the same.
She also published on her social media,
and Instagram the moment she removed her electronic ankle monitor.
In his report, the judge said she provided a disservice
to Brazilian society.
It's unacceptable. You can't trust anything she says.
There is a crime behind every fortune.
There's money laundering, there's money dealers,
and there's Nelma.
There is an entire ecosystem that goes beyond politics,
making sure that the dirty money circulates.
Due to corruption…
JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR
…the need to pay bribes, and the distribution
of illicit advantages,
there's an entire ecosystem of money dealers
and financial operators
who work to make this money circulate
unlawfully under the radar in this underworld.
There's a term known as "the Operator."
In Pulp Fiction, there was a character named "The Cleaner"…
JOURNALIST
…who solved all kinds of issues.
She was a "cleaner" of sorts to certain congressmen
and to some dollar dealers.
The enabler seems like a secondary character,
but they're central to the plot.
They are the ones who connect the dots and close the circuits
for all these criminal transactions.
Life is a game
and I go all in.
If I win, I take it all.
If I lose, I lose it all.
Halfway isn't fun.
When I made my first million dollars,
I wasn't even thirty years old.
I'd say, "Guys, I'm a millionaire!"
Right after that, I lost three million dollars.
I woke up saying, "I'm killing myself."
Losing what you've earned is not a problem,
but losing what's not yours is.
Think about it.
"Dollar dealer loses three million dollars,
and throws herself into a dumpster."
That wouldn't suit me. Not at all.
So, I said, "No. I'm better than that."
"If I lost three, it means I can make three."
I took a shower…
put on my best Chanel…
and said,
"I'm back in the game and I can make three, four, five…"
Welcome.
Welcome to my house.
I built every detail in this house.
Every single piece in here
has my personality, my taste,
my soul, my life, and work in it.
Speaking of work, this is my office desk.
I bought this desk at an antique dealer
and I brought it back to Brazil.
Like everything here, I bought it in Italy.
I made sure to open the space
because I like this amplitude, and this--
This kind of freedom.
"Hey, dollar killer! Dollar killer!"
I say, "It's not dollar killer, it's dollar dealer."
- What's up, dollar dealer. - Hey, what's up?
Dollar dealer. Dollar dealer.
That nickname follows me everywhere.
A few days before coming here,
you could hear my name on the radio every day.
"Brazil's biggest dollar dealer is coming to the Mata Escura penitentiary."
This one journalist would say this,
"Listen, if you give this dollar dealer a phone,
she will take over the yard, she will take over the whole prison.
I love shoes.
The leather,
the subtlety, the design of the heels.
I'm sure that if I wore a different pair of shoes each day,
I could wear them for over a year.
I had seven cars.
One for every day of the week.
Seven.
Jewelry.
Now you've found my weak spot.
Jewelry, jewelry, jewelry.
The word says it all. Jewels!
A woman without jewelry is practically naked.
I never made plans.
But I always had a plan. Does that make sense?
LINS FACULTY OF DENTISTRY
I'm a dentist.
I wanted to be financially independent…
set up my own clinic…
own a two-bedroom apartment.
Have an imported car
and make the equivalent of five thousand dollars.
That's what I wanted, so this was a plan.
My family owned a meatpacking plant
and a butcher shop in Diadema.
And then, I suddenly began working in the financial department.
At that time, we worked with "hot money,"
which was money borrowed from one day to the next.
I would take out these loans to buy dollars.
Then, one day, my bank manager said,
"Nelma, I'm going to introduce you to
a currency exchange in Santo André."
She told me to go there and ask to speak to César.
He was, in fact, Júlio César Emílio,
the brother of Norma Regina Emílio,
who was a Federal Revenue officer.
FORMER FEDERAL REVENUE OFFICER
She was married to João Carlos da Rocha Mattos,
a Federal Judge.
FORMER FEDERAL JUDGE
I ended up becoming their VIP client.
One day, while I was there I thought, "You know what?"
"I'll go out to dinner with this guy, at least."
"He must be interesting, he's a dollar dealer."
And that was when my relationship with him started
and I began diving into my craft as a dollar dealer.
From girlfriend to dollar dealer.
I learned very quickly.
I had never worked with this kind of merchandise before,
of buying and selling dollars.
I was there solely to answer the phone.
I wasn't supposed to negotiate. I didn't even know how to.
The dollar was continually rising,
and Julio would yell, "The dollar is now one real."
"The dollar is now at one twenty and is selling for one sixty."
I started understanding, I said, "This is nice."
Rocha Mattos was arrested in 2003 by the Federal Police,
accused of participating in a scheme
that included the selling of court rulings.
NOVEMBER 2003
He got into some trouble
during a very well-known operation called "Operation Anaconda."
The investigation identified 59 people
involved in a scheme of extortion, forgery of documents,
sale of court rulings, and influence peddling.
He did have a scheme that facilitated the sale of judicial services…
PROSECUTOR FOR SÃO PAULO STATE
…so this money had to be hidden somehow.
This was the first time we heard that there was a woman
involved in this money laundering scheme through a small travel agency
that operated as a currency exchange office.
That was the first time I heard of Nelma Kodama.
What happened was that Julio had done business
with the brother of a dollar dealer, which didn't turn out that well.
It was a scam. It caused quite a stir.
And because of it, there was a dollar dealer meeting,
and Júlio didn't attend.
They weren't just any dollar dealers, they were the dollar dealers.
They were royalty.
It was a very private club.
They dictated the rules of who stayed in the market, who left the market
because in such a masculine environment,
you need to come on strong, asserting yourself.
There was a large table with the dollar dealers
where they were all seated.
When I got there, everyone stopped.
They all stared at me…
I'm here, and I'm representing Júlio César.
I am open to negotiating all that is needed
with anyone who is willing to deal with me.
Those who didn't know me got to know me.
And saw what my role would be from then on.
She was at a moment where she wanted to grow.
She was showing the old-school dealers
and whoever else thought she was a newbie that she would become big.
FORMER ASSISTANT
The old-school dealers didn't talk to Nelma.
They never would.
They were a very closed-off and restricted group.
Luccas worked with me for 12 years.
I invite Mr. Pace Júnior to take a seat at the table.
I've worked in various banks, always in the international departments.
AUGUST 2015
STATEMENT TO THE PETROBRAS PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY COMMITTEE
I've worked on opening and closing banks,
and I've worked in extrajudicial liquidation.
I have a wide breadth of knowledge on this topic.
I came from the financial market, worked at banks,
owned a stockbroker company,
and went through some severe trouble between 2000 and 2001.
It was a problem with my associates, I lost my business, I lost my companies.
I started working much more in the informal market,
which was all I had left.
I had a friend in this area and he told me, "I'm working for Nelma."
"Ah, I've heard of her."
She asked to talk to me and I started going to Santo André.
I was going one day, two, and three, and when I realized it,
I was going every day.
Júlio became very fearful at one point
because of Rocha Mattos' situation.
According to the Attorney General's office,
Rocha Mattos would be one of the leading figures
of the gang selling court rulings.
Júlio was afraid.
That something would end up happening to him.
That he might get arrested. Anyway.
He was completely shaken and depressed.
He did not want to leave his apartment and I took on the load.
I was an employee and I was handling all the mess.
The whole transition from employee to owner
happened when we opened Hawaii Currency Exchange and Tourism.
It was no longer Santur
because another partner was involved,
who demanded we end the partnership,
and so it changed its name.
I ended up becoming the owner
because Júlio did not want to come back,
and I had to conduct the whole thing on my own.
Nelma operated in the old-school market,
which was much more straightforward.
I had very few clients, but I started closing
exchange deals for her at the banks.
She began having a lot more structure on the technical side of things
and became more capable of dealing with shipments.
That's when things began to grow, and she first moved to São Paulo.
I started…
as if it were, like, from scratch.
When dollar dealers were at their peak,
I was a nobody.
In the '70s, '80s, and '90s,
it was considered morally acceptable
to have a dollar dealer working for you.
Everybody knew it was illegal, but Brazil--
Brazil is not a German, Teutonic, or Anglo-Saxon country.
Many things are known to be sketchy here, and people do them anyway.
Inflation was rising at levels
that were about two to three percent daily.
And the only solution that Brazilians had available
was to buy some type of strong foreign currency
that would not lose value continuously like our own money.
Whatever our money might've been at the time
because it's very hard to remember all the currencies.
The currency changed names several times over the years.
That's why at the currency exchange offices,
there were lines that would go on forever
because everyone wanted to take the little money they had,
which was now even less, and try to buy dollars
because the dollar would increase its value almost every five minutes.
JULY 1994 LAUNCH OF THE REAL
From a depreciated currency to a strong one,
the real will replace the cruzeiro real in our daily lives.
With the Plano Real in 1994, with the stabilization of the currency
and the normalization of the Brazilian economy,
using dollars as a way to protect one's assets
started becoming less important.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL
Then the black-market money dealing
began to be considered more a traditional crime,
like general corruption of large-scale crime.
CITY CENTER SÃO PAULO
Business with China began increasing significantly,
but not the kind we know nowadays, but the unofficial kind.
That was right when I began operating fully
on Rua 25 de Março at the Pagé Plaza.
Rua 25 de Março is the central shopping hub in São Paulo.
Police officers and fiscal authorities have closed off the Pagé Plaza,
which is considered a symbol of contraband in Brazil.
Then people would communicate with me
and they'd close a deal.
They'd come withdraw 100, 200,000,
then you might say "What?" Yes, 100, $200,000.
I created an operation that worked like this:
I would sell those dollars to them
so they would come and get those dollars,
and then they would get on a bus
and head out to Paraguay.
There, they'd purchase the goods,
paying with those dollars, leaving those bills in the stores
and then return to São Paulo, bringing the goods.
These buses were getting robbed quite a few times.
So I thought to myself,
"Let's look at these stores, all the main stores in Paraguay."
They all buy their goods either from China or the United States
and pay by wire transfers.
So they don't need the dollars in cash.
Wire transfers involve no cables or wires.
Suppose there's a money dealer here who has a contact,
a person in the United States,
and they send them a wire.
It's called a "wire" because of a reference to telegrams.
Let's say someone needs $200,000 in New York.
The person would then go to New York
and the carrier would give the 200,000 to that person.
That Brazilian. How did the person over there get paid?
There were so many transactions happening, that someone else
would need the equivalent of these 200,000 in Brazil,
in the local currency, whatever that currency might be.
So, the dealer in Brazil would give this other person that money,
and they would be even.
The money didn't leave here, or go there.
The illegal transaction was made through this so-called wire transfer.
I had a lot of credit,
so I would say this to the store,
"You will make sure to have available,
$10,000 for Ale, ID number XYZ."
"He'll come by to pick it up."
I would charge the store a percentage of the transaction,
and I would also charge Ale a percentage.
I'd earn profits from both.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
I mean, there is because it was illegal.
I remember having crossed the Friendship Bridge
many times in Paraguay
as a money smuggler.
I'd organize a dozen boys in single file.
I'd tell them, "Each of you crosses the bridge
with$10,000." How crazy was that?
I'd watch them and say, "Hey, if you steal from me,
I'll kill you and push you off the bridge."
I would make them all walk in a single file,
and I walked right behind them.
Because if I lose, I lose ten rather than a hundred.
So I had a group of boys on the ready on the weekends,
when I'd collect the money in Paraguay.
Then I started getting robbed.
It was not easy going to places like…
the Pagé Plaza and Rua 25 de Março to collect all this money
because they were super crowded and busy.
There were tons of bags of money.
She had a team who collected money from these stalls.
That's how she operated.
With all that,
we had to create bunkers so we could store all the money.
So I could run my operation
and send these dollars abroad.
And unlike what
the authorities thought at the time,
that I had a small business operation,
there were millions and even more millions involved.
It was ridiculous.
Each client had an account within Nelma's accounting system.
Like a virtual bank nowadays.
For example, if the client had a balance,
they could ask her to convert their balance
and pay someone in China or pay them in cash.
I needed to have so many cell phones.
My employees would say to me,
"I don't understand, boss, why so many cell phones?"
I would say, "Cell phones are cheaper than a lawyer,
and better than prison."
That's when I began growing a lot,
and then I realized, "I think I need an alias."
I chose "Duda". Why?
Because it could be short for Eduarda or Eduardo.
Many people called her "auntie," but she didn't like that.
She preferred using names of film actresses instead.
Cameron Diaz, Brigitte Bardot, Angelina Jolie,
Julia Roberts.
I worked outside the law,
so I had to protect myself and protect you.
Because I looked after your money and my money.
The legal banking system also works on trust.
It is a depository, a fiduciary of deposits that don't really exist.
Like the legal system,
the illicit system is also primarily based on trust.
Still, we cannot romanticize it
and think there's no cheating within crime.
Just like the mafia disputes.
It's very much based on trust,
but there is cheating within the crime world, for sure.
I was a bank.
They would call me and say,
"Duda, come over, come pick up money of mine."
"My money. Come pick up $100,000. $100,000 for store."
Two hours later, we were there
getting money from the till.
Their credit was at a particular store
so that their person could go there
and retrieve "the merchandise."
We used to have
a very powerful dollar dealer in the region.
A Chinese woman, Mrs. Yan.
She was the primary money dealer for the Chinese.
So we were… competitors.
Mrs. Yan did not like us.
But it so happened that Mrs. Yan ended up having a personal falling out
with a Chinese man.
And then this Chinese man sent the Federal Police
to search her office.
Mrs. Yan called Santur,
and I answered the phone.
I was scared by the whole situation, so I got in my car…
…and I rushed over to the back of her exchange office
in order to rescue her.
So then, I put her in the car, and we escaped.
I have no idea if she's still alive today.
All I know is that we ended up becoming great friends and allies.
What's her name? Yan?
- I don't know. - I don't know her at all.
I've never heard that story.
Listen, I really have no idea of who she might actually be.
I think she existed
because I've heard stories about this Mrs. Yan.
I don't know if she's alive, what she does,
where she came from, or where she went.
Mrs. Yan was one of the women who inspired me.
Nelma is exaggerating it. She likes to be epic.
When I heard Nelma's story, it was all very confusing to me.
She'd talk about Beto, then talk about another guy.
I didn't understand it and also didn't want to understand it.
I just wanted to work.
I knew little about her past, but saw so much confusion
that I realized she was already mixing business with relationships.
I've never been a flirt.
So, when I ended up falling in love,
I fell in love completely.
What was the type of man Nelma liked?
FRIEND
It doesn't exist.
As long as the person was interesting,
that was all that mattered.
Alberto Youssef was one of her great loves.
It was truly a-- An astounding passion.
Alberto Youssef is a notorious money launderer.
When it comes to money laundering,
he is always somehow involved.
Because he's an expert.
How I met Beto.
It was in February of 2000.
I had done an exchange deal with someone,
and they began stalling, so I pressured them.
That's when they said, "I ended up buying from Beto."
And I said, "Who is Beto?"
I found out that Beto lived in Londrina
and worked transporting valuables.
So I started doing business with him,
and he kept calling me.
One day, he said, "I'm coming over, I'm going to meet you."
I said, "You know what? I'll just meet the guy."
So he turns up. He's shorter than me.
He had beautiful eyes.
But very poorly dressed.
Wearing a worn-out T-shirt.
FORMER DOLLAR DEALER AND BUSINESS MAN
The sides of his shoes were very dingy,
and he had an old 007-style briefcase.
Really old!
If this guy's married, he's in a bad marriage.
His wife doesn't care for him.
But, as soon I saw him, I thought, "Oh, Shit."
I'm screwed.
"Oh well, that's it."
To operate the scheme that may have laundered almost ten billion reais,
the dollar dealer Alberto Youssef, held in custody in Curitiba,
set up a wide range of contacts inside and outside the state.
Good question. What did I see in him?
I saw everything and nothing. Or the other way around.
So, Alberto Youssef is a symbol
of how this black-market money-dealing world works, right?
He did everything he could to survive
and had a way with numbers, with money…
He was born and raised in the Triple Frontier,
near Foz do Iguassu, Londrina,
where financial crime is a reality.
There's smuggling and a series of people
carrying out illegal activities near the border.
I believe that he became familiar
with this logic of the financial system
from the very beginning, since he was a small child.
2003 BANESTADO CASE INVESTIGATIONS
For almost four years, the Banco do Estado do Paraná,
a state-owned company, housed what may have been
the greatest money-laundering operation in the country's history.
Alberto Youssef, was already carrying out
money laundering schemes through CC5 accounts,
known as the Banestado Case, in Paraná.
The dealers procured straw men at the Triple Frontier,
most of them Paraguayan nationals, and they'd opened CC5 accounts
on behalf of these foreigners at Banestado in Foz do Iguaçu.
Those were foreign accounts that allowed people
to send money through them.
That was when Brazil began to open up
and carry out some types of legal transactions in foreign currency.
2003 FEDERAL SENATE
This scandal created a Parliamentary Inquiry Committee
in Congress, but it was buried.
During this period, Alberto Youssef had many friends in Brasília,
and he began developing an extensive network of influence.
In the '90s, José Janene, a politician from Paraná,
began gaining prominence as a federal representative.
He's already passed.
And, he would do business deals
that were later clearly considered to be illegal.
Alberto Youssef was the following:
He was Janene's operator. He was Janene's envoy.
FORMER FEDERAL DEPUTY
The federal court of Paraná sentenced former congressman Pedro Corrêa
to 20 years and seven months in prison
for the crimes of corruption and money laundering.
A decision made by Judge Sergio Moro.
APRIL 2015
According to reports, the former parliamentarian
received bribes destined for the Progressive Party
through the Petrobras corruption scheme.
Before Petrobras, when there were other institutions,
Janene agreed with businessmen
to contribute to the party through Youssef.
He carried out this operation.
He received dollars, sent them abroad, exchanged them for cash,
and delivered the money to Brasília.
And we distributed it among the members of Congress.
Alberto Youssef was involved once again,
and he was acquainted with a dollar dealer.
And she was the person that he turned to when he needed cash,
especially in dollars.
When he struggled to deliver the money, he'd say, "I'll have to make a sacrifice
and go to the Japanese lady."
"I'll go there, I'll have a quickie, and come back with the money."
This is what he used to say.
I didn't know who this Japanese lady was or what she looked like.
He said she was a monster
when it came to telling someone off and solving money problems.
She was Satan in a skirt.
This is the real game I actually like playing.
I had no other kind of operation.
What I have is a "small Chinese operation."
Because actual cash leaves no trail.
We lived together for nine years.
They were good times.
I was very much in love with him.
During that time, he was arrested about three times.
In his final agreement,
it was determined that he could no longer operate.
He wasn't allowed to exchange money,
and we agreed that I would be the one to operate the deals.
To say that she dealt on his behalf, while he couldn't.
I can't comment on that.
Because I was just getting to know her and how everything worked.
I really had no access to…
But have you met Mr. Alberto Youssef?
I have.
- And Dario Messer? - No.
- And Mr. Raul Srour? - Raul, yes.
He was "The Little Jew."
FORMER DOLLAR DEALER AND BUSINESSMAN
He had exquisite taste and smelled so good.
Very classy, very elegant,
but extremely penniless.
He was a partner of other dollar dealers
and one of the remaining old-school dollar dealers.
I have no idea how she met Raul, but she did.
Apparently, they began doing business,
which soon turned into a relationship.
Regarding Alberto, she did mention having big arguments with him,
but they were lovers' quarrels.
She was Youssef's lover.
They fought because he wouldn't divorce to be with her.
Now and then, he'd come over,
and once, she threw his clothes out of the window from the top floor.
About the fights we had.
Well, we actually only fought once.
Once.
He was becoming absent very frequently.
For example, he'd have to go to Brasília, and he'd stay there.
He'd then travel, and I'd ask, "Where are you going? What's going on?"
I thought he had another woman, but he didn't.
Nowadays, I know that he got home late
because he was meeting with contractors.
So, he was making money
behind my back while sleeping with me.
I told him, "One day, you will get home,
and there'll be a man in our bed."
"There will be a man in our bed."
And that's what happened.
It was Valentine's Day.
I had bought two tickets in first class.
São Paulo to Paris.
The Ritz Hotel.
Presidential suite.
And I was like…
When he found out I was going to Paris,
he was completely caught off guard.
"Now I'm the one who won't be spending Valentine's Day with you."
"I will not."
I invited my little Jewish friend to go with me.
It was a spectacular trip.
Specifically, after she met Raul,
she started to get to know the world better.
That was when I went to Chanel,
and they closed the store so I could shop.
He really started teaching me how to…
"Look, with the money you have, you get to buy this and that."
All in very good taste.
Because until that moment, I only made a bunch of money.
This is the view from our absolutely amazing room.
Is it good enough for you?
And Beto would call and call again.
He'd call the hotel and all of that fuss.
Is it okay for you? You like it?
We even have…
a little birdie!
When we got back to São Paulo,
I then told Beto to come over.
I imagined every possibility except him saying…
"We end here."
MARCH 2014
Dollar dealers, businessmen, and politicians
from one of the world's largest companies, Petrobras.
A mix that led to the complex scheme
of bribery and money laundering,
uncovered by Operation Car Wash.
Nelma knew about all the schemes Youssef conducted with businessmen
because she was involved in transactions having to do with dollars.
The dollar dealer was arrested in 2014
while trying to board a flight to Milan with 200,000 euros
hidden in her underwear.
I was not running away.
I was going to a furniture fair.
"Ma'am, you're under arrest." Huh?
"We received an anonymous tip that you are carrying drugs."
I said, "Drugs? I'm not."
I had 200,000 euros on me,
if there was anything illegal, it was that.
I didn't declare it at the revenue office because it was closed,
and that's not my fault.
I had a secret code
with someone.
That if I called them and said, "I'm going to Disney,"
it was time to get rid of it all.
Burn everything.
So I called this person and said, "Look, I'm going to Disney." I mean…
Operation Car Wash is considered
the country's greatest investigation into corruption and money laundering.
The discovery that a currency exchange office in this gas station,
in the heart of Brasília,
was laundering dirty money in plain sight
led to the name Car Wash.
The same policeman who arrested me then called me.
I thought, "Wow, it must be my release permit."
Keep dreaming!
Because it actually was a warrant for my arrest
by the then judge Sergio Moro,
through which the Operation Car Wash had begun.
Judge Sergio Moro sentenced 140 people,
including former president Lula and important businessmen.
People who committed corruption crimes…
SENATOR AND FORMER FEDERAL JUDGE
…even the powerful ones, are answering before the courts of justice.
Nobody knew what was happening.
I went into a room
where there were at least 17 men.
All of them with their heads down, pretending no one knew each other.
I said, "My God, what is going on?"
Luccas was there.
And then they transferred us.
We were taken into another room, and that's when I saw Raul.
He was very scared, and was wearing a straitjacket.
Really.
I believe he must have resisted the arrest.
Criminal organizations led by money dealers
were the first targets.
Among these money dealers, there was Alberto Youssef.
When Youssef was arrested, in order to confirm his stories,
they arrested Nelma.
She had also been connected to him since the time of Banestado,
so they knew she was very close to him.
QUESTIONING
"We want to know everything about Alberto Youssef."
"If you tell us about him,
you'll be out of here in a week, maximum."
"If not, you can rest assured you'll rot in jail."
"I'll rot then."
A politician is like a card player.
Money will never run out.
He might be broke in every way,
but he'll always find some money to keep playing.
Politicians are the same.
I've always said that the businessmen helped me.
You need money to hold an election. They're expensive.
Other people's money has to come in
because just the party fund won't elect anyone.
Whoever holds five, six, or seven terms
has to spend money because this is all they do,
or they won't get votes.
A politician won't approach a businessman directly
and say, "I want X million reais in exchange for some favor."
They use financial operators.
They're professional politicians.
There used to be wire operations.
Nowadays, people talk about Bitcoin.
There are ways to make the money that you receive here to be usable abroad.
So behind a political scheme,
there's always a financial scheme like that of the money dealers.
So, Youssef connects with Dario Messer,
and he becomes a money dealer, an underling to Messer,
who is the "dealer of dealers" in Brazilian history.
FORMER DOLLAR DEALER
Messer had so much money, so many schemes, and accounts
that he could subcontract people.
Alberto Youssef moves up the ranks in his role as a financial operator.
Little by little, he becomes independent.
He becomes a businessman with his own businesses.
I did get back in touch with him.
In 2013, he came up to me and said,
"We're going to have an operation, and it will last a year."
"And then, it's over. No more deals."
"We'll make enough money that we won't need it anymore."
The goal was to elect I don't know how many members of Congress.
Yeah, sure.
The task force investigates embezzlement of funds at Petrobras…
They charged bribes from construction companies
working on Petrobras projects.
I was never part of Operation Car Wash
because I never dealt with Petrobras.
I was a dollar dealer,
but I had never done absolutely anything
directly with the Petrobras company.
I didn't even know what I was doing there.
And to add to it, she manages to cross paths in jail
with two former lovers.
Alberto Youssef and Raul Srour.
They put me in a cell by myself.
There were three cells, one next to the other,
with a pee-smelling mattress.
In the other two cells, I think there were about 20 men.
And on the third or fourth day, Mr. Paulo Roberto Costa arrived,
a man from Petrobras, and Beto was already there.
FORMER DIRECTOR AT PETROBRAS
That's the hardest moment, when you say,
"What am I doing here? How is it going to be like from now on?"
You could see that bunch of grown men crying,
"I want to get out of here!"
Those who weren't religious were becoming evangelical,
Christian, spiritual, because everything
that was happening was so new, and it was terrifying.
It was difficult for everyone.
And it was very difficult, I remember, for Raul.
His son had been arrested along with him.
We had no idea how big Operation Car Wash was.
It was the first day, and there was no news about it.
The news was-- It was us.
Almost everyone there believed it would all be resolved in a matter of days.
Youssef also thought it would be resolved quickly,
and Raul, as well,
like any other operation had been before Operation Car Wash.
Well, Nelma would keep changing mood so very quickly,
and sometimes, the same topic that made her laugh
would hurt her soon after.
I was the first woman to be arrested in Operation Car Wash.
It's hard to face the fact that you're under arrest,
but that's something you've got to do, why?
Because if not, you keep refusing things like a fan
because you think you're leaving soon. No, you're not.
So, what do you have to do?
You have to make your cell liveable.
She used to clean the cell about five times a day.
A bit crazy, but I got along well with her
because I had all the attention in the world.
She made my food, she would look after me,
and then she started to take care of me.
Mr. Pedro. He is--
He's such a character.
Alberto Youssef wouldn't speak to her, but she spoke to him.
He wouldn't say good morning, he just wouldn't speak.
And then Beto would say, "I don't want her in here!"
And Pedro would say, "She can come into my part!"
Alberto Youssef had never read a book in his life.
So I gave him his first book to get rid of him
and get some sleep.
We used to play cards, dominoes, chess.
But after a while, the games got serious.
Poker, rummy or anything else.
So then, new ideas would come up,
like, "Let's play Scattergories."
Alberto didn't know what it was, but we played it seriously
because it was worth the Sunday bun.
The buns on Sunday were from a bakery, different from the ones
on Mondays to Saturdays.
The game was quite heated to compete for the bread.
I got to win two buns on the same weekend.
I always thought Luccas was very intelligent, however--
There's always a "however."
We were caught in Operation Car Wash together.
We were arrested at the same time, and I was disappointed in him
because when I was arrested, they said to him,
"You will tell us all about Nelma and her assets
because if you don't, you're going to the prison complex."
He didn't last five minutes and told them everything.
Federal judge Sergio Moro
has approved Operation Car Wash's first leniency agreement.
The agreement by the 13th Federal Court of Curitiba
refers to the defendant's statement, Luccas Pace Junior.
He was accused of financial crimes,
money laundering, and organized crime,
as a subordinate of alleged dollar dealer, Nelma Mitsue Penasso Kodama.
Luckily, I stayed for five months at the Federal Police headquarters.
Others were sent to prisons.
For a while, since I was providing services
for the correctional system,
we were able to make sure that they divided the cells
between Operation Car Wash and other crimes.
There was indeed a distinction
because everybody there was a white-collar prisoner.
New arrests in Operation Car Wash,
which is investigating corruption at Petrobras.
One of the arrested is the head
of one of the biggest construction companies in the country.
BUSINESSMAN
Then arrived, Marcelo,
and there was only one bed in my cell.
The others had bunk beds, but this one only had a bed,
so he slept on the floor.
He was also obsessed with tidiness.
He would organize the fridge, and I'd mess it up and tell him,
"Marcelo, the fridge is a complete mess!"
He'd go straight to the fridge and organize the whole thing,
and I'd mess it up again.
All of a sudden, someone else arrived.
A very high-ranked Odebrecht secretary.
Mrs. Maria Lúcia was imprisoned with us.
She arrived there in complete and utter shock,
and she was absolutely shaken.
They needed her statement so they could begin to…
force Odebrecht,
and force Marcelo into making his leniency agreement.
She asked me about it.
I told her, "Mrs. Maria Lúcia, you have to weigh it up."
"Your freedom or your conviction."
"I've been here for a while now."
"You may rest assured that if you give them what they want,
you'll leave without a problem."
"What you must do is listen to your own conscience."
We tried telling her not to do it.
"You shouldn't do it. You've been at the company for 30 years."
"Your boss is right next door."
And Nelma told her, "It's gonna be tough if you don't,
I know what it's like."
"If you don't testify, you'll be screwed because of it."
Maria Lúcia Tavares was the first Odebrecht employee
to collaborate with the Justice Department.
She revealed the existence of the company's bribe department.
She testified today, in front of Judge Sergio Moro.
Nelma quickly reads the people she meets.
She has an understanding of how the person works.
It was a bombastic statement.
Nelma convinced her to expose Marcelo.
Maybe Nelma did this to negotiate her own leniency agreement.
Because any information an investigated person brings in
is an important element,
so this could count as points for her, so to speak.
So, it was in that arrangement
that I believe that I might have helped.
I don't know if she got any concrete benefit regarding her sentence.
Still, in fact she began to be regarded by the Car Wash team in Curitiba
as if she was a collaborator, someone they could count on.
She was really of great help at that moment, right?
It stirs something inside her.
She needs to be in charge, she needs to say,
"I'm fine, let me help all of you."
I think that's more likely. She has this thing.
She's a celebrity.
Ladies and gentlemen, Nelma Kodama!
Nelma! Thank you so much for being here.
Look at how cool this is.
I'm very important.
The president's here, below me.
This is so cool!
She didn't play the victim role.
Who could forget the day she photographed herself
wearing an ankle monitor, and published it.
This is a slap in the face.
I'm not sure if she wants to be an influencer
or show off her fashionable ankle monitor.
I was afraid of going out.
Then I thought, "You know what?"
"I'm going out with my ankle monitor because am I going to hide it?"
I think she enjoyed playing this character,
you know, the Hollywood, like, female bandit.
On Mariana Godoy Interviews…
Do you consider yourself a criminal?
No, I don't consider myself a criminal.
Maybe all this exposure of what she does
and even this pride in saying she's a dollar dealer
perhaps is a characteristic of hers.
Guys, I'm taking up almost half a page on the Sunday paper!
Maybe she'd be like that in any other enterprise.
How did a dentist become a dollar dealer?
This is a topic for the next interview.
The thing was she liked to show off.
People recognized me and said, "Can we take a selfie?"
I found that quite funny.
Once again, on an entire page.
I became this celebrity
because I sang at the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee.
In a moment in which I-- I just didn't--
I didn't plan it or practice it.
It was at the Petrobras inquiry,
where they were investigating the largest corruption scheme
in the world, so to speak.
And out of the blue,
a parliamentarian decides to ask me about my personal life.
I declare open the 18th meeting
of the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee,
created to investigate the practice of illicit acts and irregularities,
within the scope of the company Petróleo Brasileiro S. A., Petrobras
between the years of 2005 and 2015.
This meeting is a public hearing to obtain statements from the following:
Nelma Kodama, Renê Luiz Pereira, João Luiz Correa…
Is that Nelma? Is it the same Nelma who studied with us?
All of a sudden, there's Nelma at the Petrobras inquiry.
FRIEND
I even called my wife, who had also studied with us.
I said, "Márcia, come here. Look who it is."
FRIEND
We were shocked and wondering how this could've happened.
I'm here today, under investigation,
since I've already been sentenced and condemned
by Judge Sergio Moro.
Small towns are like that.
You go outside, and everyone knows each other.
Were you Alberto Youssef's lover?
I lived conjugally with Alberto Youssef from 2000 to 2009.
I was at a Parliamentary Inquiry Committee,
which I thought was something serious.
And this parliamentarian kept hounding me,
"Were you his lover? Were you his lover? Were you his lover?"
"Lover" is a word that encompasses everything, right?
A lover is a wife, a lover is a friend.
- A lover is-- - I'm not judging.
- But I am answering you. - Just to be clear,
- I'm just reading what you wrote. - I'm explaining it.
And I'm explaining it to you.
I'm just reading. Is there a problem?
- May I continue? - You may.
"If you really want to know."
"If by 'lover' you mean being a friend,
a wife, a companion, and a partner, then I was his lover."
"There's even a song by Roberto Carlos."
And at that moment everybody there started singing it with me.
So, I simply did this…
We can't take Mrs. Nelma seriously.
She's the one who sang "Amada Amante," remember?
It is an iconic moment, her singing and the members of Congress singing along.
I had nothing else to do, and what did he think I was doing?
Showing off. I wasn't showing off.
What was I doing? Protecting myself from that question,
which was anything but a subtle question.
He asked me directly, it was highly inelegant.
And I'm an elegant woman. Sir, please.
I met Nelma at a trade school in Lins in the '80s.
We were around 15 to 17 years old.
For sure, Nelma was very playful.
Very playful,
so the playful people sat down at the back of the classroom
with the slackers and got together to joke around and create chaos.
Well, Nelma came from a very wealthy and traditional family in Lins.
I met her as soon as we entered Lins College after the entrance exams…
during the student hazing.
Here she is a geisha. Look at her!
This was at Lins Dentistry School. It's been 30 years.
There's the whole class, which you know very well.
During all my years at dental school,
I was the nerd, who didn't go out,
didn't go to parties, didn't go to absolutely anything.
Then, in my last semester, I finally started going out.
- Nelma, Ione, Gisela. - Ione, you, Robertinha--
Robertinha.
For Nelma Kodama, having friends is something rare.
Artur!
Many friends disappeared.
Artur.
Because they weren't friends with Nelma Kodama.
They were friends with Nelma Kodama's money.
My dear Artur! Do you remember when we danced in Milan?
It has always been like this.
- She'd say-- - I'd say, "Artur!"
FRIEND
"Artur, come to Paris with me."
And I'd say…
She'd call me and say, "Artur, I'm sending you your ticket."
We leave tomorrow, okay?
I'd say, "Tomorrow?" "Yes, tomorrow."
And then…
This is my great friend and dear accomplice.
- Wait, no. Not accomplice. - No, I mean, calm down, everyone!
Not in a compromising way, right, Artur?
I don't mess with dollars or euros.
Milan.
- Istanbul. - Istanbul is terrible.
- Artur! Istanbul was so much fun. - Istanbul.
She's crazy, unpredictable
and reckless.
There she is. She's hiding. Look here!
Listen, I'm going home now
because it's time for my house arrest.
Because at ten o'clock at night:
Mm!
I had my friends from college and when we were really stressed
I'd say to them, "Guys, let's go for a spin. Let's do a flyby."
"Let's fly over the whole city of Lins."
The plane belonged to Nelma's family.
It was always at the airport, and we'd go there occasionally.
She'd organize everything with the pilot, her mother didn't even know about it.
She was the one who arranged everything with the pilot,
but she would also fly the plane.
It's not that I flew the plane.
There was a pilot, who all of a sudden
would leave the plane in my hands.
When I noticed it, she was changing seats with the pilot.
"Just calm down, I know what I'm doing."
It was a dangerous stunt because I didn't have a flying license.
May the pilots forgive me.
We'd bring a few beers to enjoy
while we'd fly over the city.
He'd perform some loops and would go up and down, like this.
And what would we hear from her? Just laughter.
She'd be cracking up seeing the reaction on our faces.
They were enjoying that thing of…
doing the whole thing in a "wrong way."
Not me, I was seeing things differently.
I was reflecting on how I was seeing from way above,
what was down below.
And I thought to myself, "Oh, boy,
I wasn't born to be a dentist."
"It's not going to work."
APRIL 2022
LISBON
Guess what, Nelma reappeared today in the news.
She was arrested in Portugal,
on an even heavier charge than before.
International drug trafficking.
According to the investigation, she's been identified as the leader
of this organization.
Nelma Kodama is on the investigators' list,
accused of laundering money for a complex drug trafficking network.
Suddenly, from "Empress of Operation Car Wash,"
I was labeled the "Empress of Trafficking."
I am sitting on the hotel balcony,
when about ten police officers come in and say, "You're under arrest."
In Portugal, Nelma is regarded as a high-risk offender.
LAWYER
While Nelma was in the prison complex of Santa Cruz do Bispo,
she was not allowed any contact with the other inmates.
During Operation Car Wash, I had an idea of what was happening
because I was a dollar dealer.
But in this operation,
I kept thinking, "What are they accusing me of?"
Investigations indicate the dollar dealer,
owned part of the 580 kilos of cocaine
seized from a Portuguese company's plane at the airport in the capital of Bahia.
Without a doubt, she becomes involved in this process
because of a relationship she has with another person.
LAWYER AND NELMA'S EX-BOYFRIEND
I had a relationship with this person.
I was being betrayed by a nobody.
A nobody!
No one knows who this guy is.
But everyone knows Nelma Kodama.
He wasn't an intelligent man.
He was not a criminal.
Because a criminal man--
I'm sorry to say, but a criminal goes by a code of honor
within the criminal world.
His word means something.
After leaving prison due to Operation Car Wash,
I think she couldn't accept
having to live her life
with lower standards.
You pull it here,
and then you push.
So we pull
and then push.
And we pull and push again.
And so on.
She left prison and couldn't find anything to do.
She couldn't go back to the business world,
so she went into drug trafficking,
which is a crime that is truly complicated.
That's something that causes intense harm to others.
Taking dollars from the wealthy and giving them to politicians
that was completely different.
Me being investigated
for international drug trafficking?
That is something substantial.
I'm someone who's utterly
and completely against drugs. I really am.
I am. I don't smoke I don't drink.
How could I sell drugs?
Nelma didn't accept extradition when it was first presented to her.
She didn't want to go back to Brazil in the dark.
She then understood that returning would make sense,
so she could defend herself in the trial.
A dollar dealer convicted in Operation Car Wash,
who reported businessmen and politicians,
has been extradited from Portugal to Brazil.
She arrived in Salvador last night.
She was taken to the Federal Police superintendence.
FEDERAL POLICE
In this operation, Operation Discovery,
nine people were being investigated.
I was the only woman,
and the only one who was arrested in Salvador.
Because that's where the operation stemmed from.
I stayed there for three months. Only I know what I went through.
It was the worst thing that has ever happened in my life.
"Is this hell?"
I am wondering, "Is this hell?"
When you think things are bad, it can get worse.
I have new wrinkles here.
Those two wrinkles--
I'm a dentist, so I know the muscles.
They are there now because I never laugh.
So this right here is atrophying.
It keeps atrophying.
It keeps atrophying.
JUNE 2023
Nelma is arrested in this trial
under the accusation of alleged transnational crime,
drugs and criminal organization.
LAWYER
Our main focus at the moment is the issue of setting her free.
Do you know if they managed to sign it yet?
Could you verify it for me, please?
Hi, Thiago, good afternoon.
It's Bruno again. Can I call you in five minutes?
What time do you finish working? My God, all this to just sign a document.
It can't be.
I was in Portugal for six months.
Then, I went to Salvador and stayed there for three months.
Then, four months here in São Paulo,
which was easy-peasy.
Ladies, the release permit was issued.
I'm going there, okay? I'll go to make sure.
I'll let you know how it goes. See you soon.
WOMEN'S PENITENTIARY SANTANA
He's finishing the permit.
As soon as he's done, he'll call and I'll let you know and you can go in.
LAWYER
- There's a spot for lawyers in there. - Let's make it easier. We'll do better.
I'll park right here, and she'll come out and get in the car.
Freedom has a flavor, do you know which one?
It's bittersweet.
COURT GRANTS HOUSE ARREST TO NELMA
Nelma isn't just a client, and she's a one-of-a-kind case.
I would always visit her twice a week in Portugal.
And she would call me every day
including Saturdays, Sundays, bank holidays…
When I spoke to her, she'd always listen,
and she'd always be looking at me,
always looking into my eyes.
We began talking about more trivial subjects
like how she was feeling,
her concerns,
which included her health condition,
her aspirations for the future.
Let me help you.
She was feeling more open to vent with me,
which happened more often in our interactions.
And yes, at this moment,
I can consider Nelma to be my--
In fact, she often calls me "sweetheart."
- You look gorgeous. - Who, me?
There were people who said that I would never get out.
So I was starting to feel exhausted.
"Dr. Manuela, I'll never get out."
"Of course you will."
"What if I stay for eight years or ten years?"
"But what do you think I'm doing?"
"If you were to stay eight to ten years,
I wouldn't be here with you."
I would like to introduce, Dr. Manuela,
my lawyers, Dr. Bruno
- and Dr. Felipe. - Nice to meet you.
Dr. Manuela accompanied me for the first six months.
I also have a case in Portugal,
which she is also following.
And now, we have you.
And Dr. Manuela, they're young and brilliant.
and they specialize in criminal organizations,
which is one of the reasons
why we ended up deciding that we needed to change our strategy.
Then I realized I needed to do something about it.
This isn't right.
If that guy, that nobody from the high echelon got out,
why am I still here?
We are very similar in many ways,
beginning with our bad choices in men.
We laugh a lot together.
A lot.
One of the many things, was precisely that.
She said, "Look, doctor, as soon as I get out,
I will find you a boyfriend, all right?"
And I laughed, and said to her,
"Oh, my, if he's anything like yours…"
As they say, men came to steal from us,
humiliate us and also to use us.
For example, in Beto's case,
in addition to having a personal relationship with him,
I had a business relationship with him.
Our involvement in Operation Car Wash was due to her relationship with Youssef.
If it were for our regular dealings,
we probably wouldn't have been caught, just like other dollar dealers
who had business relations with him weren't caught.
They didn't want Nelma, and while I was there,
I said nothing about Youssef.
Surprisingly, while watching TV,
I discovered Beto was signing a leniency agreement.
Alberto Youssef obtained the right to a reduced sentence
in exchange for pleading guilty to Petrobras' crimes,
and giving evidence that revealed the scheme at the state-owned company.
"If he did this,
I hope he pulls me out of it all and protects me."
That's not what happened.
So I said, "Okay. Life goes on. Let's keep going."
And that was that.
I don't think there's such a thing as forgiving or not.
It's all right, it's all good, life goes on.
And I wish happiness… to everyone.
To everyone. And life goes on.
Evidence of illegal wiretapping in Alberto Youssef's cell.
After a lot of back and forth in the court,
the defense of the accused obtained a release permit…
The task force began to lose its strength
after the leak of conversations between two central characters,
the then judge Sergio Moro
and the then prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol.
Sergio Moro, Deltan Dallagnol and their group
made decisions that broke the law.
I have always acted based on the law and the ethical rules of the judiciary…
Moro had supposedly given informal clues to prosecutors.
There were violations of the law,
illegalities, unethical actions.
I never advised the Public Ministry
to do anything.
Those are prosecutors taking advantage of the public exposure they had.
Sergio Moro is the fifth minister confirmed for Jair Bolsonaro's government.
The former federal judge was made Minister of Justice and Public Security.
Sergio Moro continues with his election campaign undertones.
A series of leaks raised questions
about the impartiality of the then judge
heading the largest anti-corruption operation in the history of Brazil.
Operation Car Wash had 79 stages and 278 convictions.
In February 2021, the task force was closed.
You could see this turn of events coming,
because everything that goes up quickly, comes down just as fast.
The feeling of vanity rises,
and when vanity rises,
you end up getting lost in power.
Loneliness, that runs deep.
She felt a vast emptiness at the end of each day
when she was heading home
as if everything she had done that day was gone.
She was like an artist, a comedian,
who would return home and become an average person.
I don't remember how we met again
or where we talked, but she said to me…
"I have no one by my side."
"I have no children. I've got nothing."
"So, what was the real price for all of this?"
"But it's okay, it's all good,
tomorrow is another day, I'm going to do things, to conquer things,
I'll create businesses."
And…
she'd immediately put on this character,
which I called "the Nelma Character."
I'm not a mother, so I don't know what giving birth to a child is like.
But I have given birth to money.
Even without being the central character in these schemes,
she stirred things up.
A dollar dealer who rises through the criminal hierarchy
fooling all these men.
Dirty money is filthy, but when it comes sealed,
straight from the bank, it has an amazing smell. Right?
And it's not that rich smell from the money's purchasing power,
but it's the sweet smell of where that money actually originates.
This beautiful activity of…
being a dollar dealer.
The credibility of making a call and saying,
"Listen, transfer me a million."
"It's in the account."
"I'll pay you tomorrow." "Okay."
That's all gone.
The new digital mediums and the new payment methods,
such as tokens, NFT, Bitcoin, and others,
have made the more traditional work
of the enabling money dealer into something obsolete.
Paper bills and credit cards are dying.
Cryptocurrency allows for a degree of anonymity similar to that of cash.
I would be a hacker.
I would be that person who finds out
how they can make sure that their money is untraceable.
It is very clearly an entire life
solely dedicated to criminal activity.
My friend.
I can't accept the idea of my friend Nelma being a criminal. I won't.
I felt like a taxi driver.
I don't know where the money originated.
I don't know if it was from drug trafficking, from a car sale,
I don't know the origin.
If Nelma says she's like a taxi driver
who doesn't know what's happening,
I'd say this would be a better analogy:
she drives the crime.
Someone's about to kidnap a person,
and she's their getaway driver.
That's one of the complicated things about financial crimes
and these types of criminal organizations.
You can always make it seem like you are cleaner than you actually are.
It's called white-collar crime for a reason.
Of course, Nelma may think that her understanding
of a crime differs from mine or others, but it's all the same.
It's a very serious mistake
to say that financial crime and corruption
are light crimes instead of blood crimes.
Ninety-eight percent of deforestation in Brazil is illegal.
And it can only happen through corruption and land grabbing,
but also through those illicit payment cash-flows
laundered by those dollar dealers.
In this country, the engine is corruption.
Before the money even got to me,
it would go through the major institutions.
So, the money would leave the accounts of businessmen
and the accounts of various politicians and would go into my account.
Operation Car Wash uncovered a corruption scheme
that no one had ever seen in Brazil.
What I believe happened there
was a certain omnipotence involved in the thought process
that because you're fighting a crime, you have free rein.
We could often see that there was a missionary instinct,
but when the system decides to react, that is when it gets you.
When the operation got to the judiciary,
it began to be dismantled.
But it didn't even get anywhere close to the financial system.
It is estimated that around five to eight percent of the world's GDP
comes from money laundering.
There would never be a grand corruption scheme
without the connivance of the financial system.
In Brazil and internationally.
So what was against the law?
I wasn't against the law.
They were never guilty.
There was a government body, which is the COAF,
who were supposed to monitor this. Not me.
Pure cynicism facilitated by our society's tolerance,
which sees no problem in enduring white-collar crime by the elite,
which is made up largely by the white skin and light eyes that walk
up and down the corridors of power in Brasília,
as well as the spaces of luxury.
Holding responsible a large Swiss bank,
a large New York law firm,
or the government of European countries that turned a blind eye
and ensured that their countries benefited with money
from global corruption and money laundering.
I think that this switch is the biggest challenge.
It's all outside the law.
I'm an outlaw, and everything else is as well.
The big question is does the political system,
do the regulators,
and does the government really want to be ahead of the crime?
Or is it convenient to stay a bit behind?
I want to thank all of you because you are my team.
- Will it be fine? - It will be fine for sure.
Of course it will be because I'm innocent.
Once we annulled Operation Car Wash's final decision, you became innocent.
I'm also innocent of this crime, you know why?
Because I would never have done this operation.
And if I had done it, it would have worked out
because I'm not stupid.
THE HOUSE ARREST WAS REVOKED, NELMA KODAMA REMAINS IN FREEDOM
AND WAITING FOR TRIAL IN THE DRUG TRAFFICKING CASE
IN THE CAR WASH, HER LAWYER IS TRYING TO VOID THE CONVICTION,
BASED ON PREVIOUS COURT DECISIONS.
I'm going to tell you a secret. I'm allergic to money.
I'm so allergic to it that it makes me super itchy.
You have no idea.
I'm sorry.
I'm allergic to money.
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