JD Vance-Founded, Korea-Tied Firm Now Influencing Brazil Election

A second document, confidential and unsigned, was addressed to Flávio Bolsonaro – son of the former president, Jair Bolsonaro, who is now jailed for attempting a coup after losing the 2022 presidential election.

t proposed a Technology Council of 23 business leaders, 19 of whom were foreign, to directly advise the Liberal Party's presidential candidate and bring American investors closer to a potential administration of his in sectors such as defense, energy, data centers and rare earth metals. The text presented the council as useful“as a campaign tool” and“as a platform for government,” and hinted at investment commitments even before the inauguration.

There is no evidence that the material reached the candidate, and several of the listed companies deny having been consulted. The individuals involved, however, are close to Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign.

Businessman Pedro Sang, identified in the document as the executive director of the Brazilian operation, told The Intercept that the council“was just an idea that never took off or moved forward.” Sang was introduced to Rockbridge through André Marinho, of the right wing Novo party, a candidate for governor of Rio and son of businessman Paulo Marinho, Flávio's alternate in the Senate.

Marinho wrote a memo about a Brazil-US partnership on rare earths under a potential Flávio administration, which he now describes as a“hypothetical exercise.” Nine days after the file was created, Flávio said at CPAC, in Dallas, that Brazil was the solution for the United States to break free from its dependence on China for critical minerals.

Tallis Gomes, founder of Easy Taxi, stated in April, on the Os Sócios podcast, that he was part of Rockbridge and that Flávio had asked him for written proposals for his government plan. Afterward he told The Intercept that he is merely part of a networking group. On October 1, allies of the Liberal Party's candidate told Folha that businesspeople linked to the network produced reports and provided consulting services to the campaign.

Rockbridge denied for weeks that it had plans for Brazil, until it admitted that it had opened a company in the United States, Rockbridge Brazil LLC, registered in Wyoming in May. It claims that the initiative did not move forward, that the company never received funds or operated, and that Brazilians produced documents bearing its name without its consent. Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign denies having received foreign funds.

The accusation of foreign campaign financing came from Renan Santos, then a presidential candidate for the Missão party, who claimed, without presenting evidence, that Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign was receiving money from the network indirectly. Based on this, Workers' Party Congressman Lindbergh Farias filed a petition with the STF on Sept. 11. The Workers' Party asked Justice Flávio Dino to order a Federal Police investigation, and Lula's campaign took the case to Brazil's Electoral Supreme Court (TSE), requesting records of meetings, contracts and expenses.

Brazilian election law prohibits donations from foreign entities to campaigns. So far, however, there is no public evidence that money from Rockbridge reached Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign, and it is unlikely that the courts will conclude any investigation before October 25, the date of the presidential election's runoff.

The debate focused on money, however, asks the wrong question. Rockbridge does not need to have transferred a single dollar to have influence in this election. It can do so through a number of other means.

The first is programmatic. The network offers Flávio Bolsonaro something no other candidate has: a direct channel to the inner circle surrounding the US vice president, who leads most polls for the likely Republican nomination in the 2028 U.S. presidential election. Rockbridge Brazil LLC was registered by Chris Applegate, who is in charge of Vance's relationship with donors.

With part of Brazil's exports subject to tariffs of up to 37.5% since July - as part of the second round of trade sanctions following the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the 2025 tariff hike - the promise to repair relations with Washington holds electoral value, especially among business leaders and exporters.

The proposal for cooperation on rare earths - a resource in which Brazil holds the world's second-largest reserves, second only to China - gives concrete substance to this promise. And it aligns with the priority of Trump's economic diplomacy in the competition with China over supply chains. The candidate can present himself not only as Trump's ideological ally but also as his preferred interlocutor.

The second is organizational. What Rockbridge sells in the United States is a method. Its 2021 brochure outlined plans for its own media outlets, influencer programs and a“shadow government” to train staff, and the network funded voter mobilization in key states in 2024.

The Brazilian plan replicated this model. Even though the organization never formally operated in the country, knowledge circulates among people, and some of them, according to Flávio Bolsonaro's own allies, have already worked on his campaign. In a runoff decided by just a few points, the ability to mobilize business leaders, fund campaign content, and get voters to the polls through legal and domestic channels may be worth more than any international transfer.