Researching Sergio Moro

Sergio Fernando Moro ( born 1 August 1972) is a Brazilian jurist, former federal judge, college professor and politician. In 2015 he gained national attention as one of the lead judges in Operation Car Wash, a criminal investigation into a high-profile corruption and bribery scandal involving government officials and business executives. Moro also served later on as Minister of Justice and Public Security under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, from 2019 to 2020.

On 29 October 2018, days after the 2018 election, President-elect Jair Bolsonaro nominated Moro to be Minister of Justice and Public Security. On 1 November, Moro accepted the job after personally meeting with Bolsonaro. His appointment to Bolsonaro's cabinet and the way he had previously conducted Operation Car Wash (in particular President Lula's case) drew praise from his peers and by a significant portion of the Brazilian society, but also significant criticism was voiced, especially after revelations of alleged partiality and judicial misconduct on his part, published by the American investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald, during the Car Wash investigations. Moro left the government in April 2020, mentioning the President's undue interference in the affairs of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security. Since November 2020 he is a lawyer with the firm Alvarez and Marsal.

Since his retirement from public service, leaked messages exchanged between then-judge Moro and Brazilian prosecutors resulted in widespread questioning of his impartiality during the Operation Car Wash hearings; Moro has publicly disputed these allegations. On March 9, 2021, the habeas corpus trial was resumed in the Supreme Federal Court that questioned his impartiality, with two judges, Gilmar Mendes and Ricardo Lewandowski, voting that Moro was indeed biased, including the vote of these two last for the payment of a US$40,000 fine and the court costs of the lawsuit filed against Lula.