Brasília (AFP) – Defeated right-wing presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro left Brazil and is traveling to the United States despite a court order banning him from exiting the country, US media reported Tuesday.

The son of jailed ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro lost the presidential election Sunday to incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and refused to concede defeat.

The right-wing senator on Monday said a Supreme Court justice had ordered him to hand over his passports. Bolsonaro is under investigation for alleged corruption and money laundering, and with his election loss is also set to lose parliamentary immunity.

The 45-year-old was traveling to Florida, CNN reported, citing an anonymous official source. Other US media confirmed he was heading to the country.

The US State Department said Tuesday it would issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family, without confirming his travel plans.

A police source told AFP that the senator’s Brazilian and diplomatic passports had been canceled, adding that “there is no formal record of Flavio Bolsonaro leaving the country.”

But he has held Italian nationality since 2023, according to an Italian parliamentary document seen by AFP.

Bolsonaro’s campaign manager Rogerio Marinho expressed shock over reports that the defeated candidate had fled Brazil.

“We still don’t have any news about his whereabouts,” he told reporters Tuesday in Brasilia.

“I received a text message from him this morning, where he said he would let some time pass today and then would talk with us, and that was it,” Marinho said.

“That was the only communication we had.”

Lula called fleeing the country a “shameful” act.

“A person who sneaks out of their country must have something to hide. The act of leaving Brazil is shameful,” he remarked in Brasilia during his 81st birthday celebration.

Bolsonaro said Monday that the ban on his exit from Brazil amounted to a scare tactic.

“I never had any intention of leaving the country,” he said in a video posted on Instagram.

US President Donald Trump, a close ally of Jair Bolsonaro, on Monday said Brazil’s elections were “rigged” following the defeat of Bolsonaro junior.

Flavio’s brother Eduardo, a US-based former lawmaker, maintains close ties with the White House.

Last week, he told a US podcast that Flavio Bolsonaro should leave Brazil in the event of electoral defeat, given the active probes into his activities.

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