TelexFree Figure Carlos Costa Trounced At Polls For Seat In Brazilian Congress

UPDATED 9:32 P.M. EDT U.S.A. TelexFree figure Carlos Costa of the state of Espírito Santo appears to have come up far short in his bid to win a seat in Brazil’s 513-member federal Chamber of Deputies, the equivalent of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Although final numbers appear not to be available yet, more than 99 percent of the vote appears to have been tabulated. Costa appears to be listed in 31st place in a crowded field in which a maximum of 10 candidates from his region would fill vacancies.

Costa appears to have gleaned about 0.61 percent of the vote, with the successful candidates receiving far higher percentages. At the time of this PP Blog post, the lead vote-getter appears to have gleaned about 8.55 percent. The lowest vote-getter among the top 10 received about 2.68 percent.

Costa’s campaign appeared to focus on wooing MLMers. Regulators in both Brazil and the United States have described TelexFree as a pyramid scheme. Some TelexFree members have alleged that racketeering violations occurred within the cross-border enterprise.

Costa’s campaign site appears not to have conceded defeat as of the time of this PP Blog post.

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16 Responses to “TelexFree Figure Carlos Costa Trounced At Polls For Seat In Brazilian Congress”

  1. Quick note: Some folks on the Costa campaign Facebook site appear to be taking the defeat in stride. But there appears also to be at least a small undercurrent that the defeat signals a plot against TelexFree.

    Looks as though some folks also believe the electronic voting machines malfunctioned and did not permit them to vote for their man. Whether this will devolve into the electronic equivalent of the “hanging chads” in the 2000 U.S. election remains to be seen.

    As of now, it appears that claims the election was rigged against Costa might not pass intellectual scrutiny, given the apparent large margin of defeat. Even so, this is TelexFree — so one cannot rule out that a conspiracy theory will gain a head of steam.

    I do wish I better understood Brazilian culture in general and Brazilian political culture in specific.

    Patrick

  2. It is official now. Costa needed around 45,000 votes to win a seat. He has got 11,635 (0,65%).

    Without parliamentary immunity, he is vulnerable to prosecution.

    It shows that scammed people is moving away from MLM defense movements

  3. Conpiracies involving the voting machines are very common from losing candidates and they are not taken seriously at all.

  4. Thanks for the info, Vinicius. Appreciate you stopping by.

    Patrick

  5. (sorry for my poor english, i’ll try to explain what could have happened)

    There is a possible explanation for Costa name “not appearing”: People don’t know how to use the ballot properly.

    We’re voting for President, Governor, Senator and Deputies all at once.

    When you vote you have to input the candidate number on the ballot. Presidential candidates have a two digit code (Dilma Rousseff’s code is 13, the Worker’s Party number).

    To vote for Deputy, you have to input a four digit code (Costa’s is 4422). But if you type a two digit code, you give a vote that will count evenly for all deputy candidates of the party.

    You vote first for deputy, then for senator, state governor and last for president. But many people think you vote for president first. They don’t read the ballot’s LCD display and type the presidential code at the wrong time, wasting their vote.

  6. Vinicius: (sorry for my poor english, i’ll try to explain what could have happened)

    Your English is just fine. My Portuguese is nonexistent. Covering TelexFree has been a challenge because of my lack of understanding of Portuguese. I’ve relied a lot on Google Translate, but it’s not the same thing as understanding nuance or appropriate syntax.

    A few Brazilians who understand English and have posted here have aided my comprehension. Much appreciated.

    Vinicius: There is a possible explanation for Costa name “not appearing”: People don’t know how to use the ballot properly.

    We’re voting for President, Governor, Senator and Deputies all at once.

    When you vote you have to input the candidate number on the ballot. Presidential candidates have a two digit code (Dilma Rousseff’s code is 13, the Worker’s Party number).

    To vote for Deputy, you have to input a four digit code (Costa’s is 4422). But if you type a two digit code, you give a vote that will count evenly for all deputy candidates of the party.

    You vote first for deputy, then for senator, state governor and last for president. But many people think you vote for president first. They don’t read the ballot’s LCD display and type the presidential code at the wrong time, wasting their vote.

    Costa’s campaign appears to have spent some time trying to familiarize his troops with his number. Maybe they needed some coaching on the overall process.

    It will be interesting to see how things evolve on the TelexFree front in Brazil post-election, especially if he was counting on getting elected to avoid indictment.

    Patrick

  7. Guys, about the “malfunction” of the electronic voting machines, please…

    Let me try to clarify: people can only vote for congressmen
    state representatives and senators OF THEIR OWN STATE.

    The number, or ID, of those candidates can be the same for other states and that’s why some (stupid) voters were complaining they were trying to vote for Costa OUTSIDE OF ESPIRITO SANTO STATE and “some other candidate” was being shown in the machines. Of course that would happen! Costa is only running as a ESPIRITO SANTO’s congressman.

    People don’t have a clue how elections work and pretend to be experts in “high risk investments”. Scammers will always be scammers.

  8. Diego: Let me try to clarify: people can only vote for congressmen
    state representatives and senators OF THEIR OWN STATE.

    The number, or ID, of those candidates can be the same for other states and that’s why some (stupid) voters were complaining they were trying to vote for Costa OUTSIDE OF ESPIRITO SANTO STATE and “some other candidate” was being shown in the machines. Of course that would happen! Costa is only running as a ESPIRITO SANTO’s congressman.

    Hello Diego,

    This never occurred to me. Based on what you’re saying, some of the folks complaining on Facebook about the machines might have been from outside Espirito Santo and thus could not have cast a vote for him anyway.

    Interesting, indeed.

    Patrick

  9. PatrickPretty.com: Hello Diego,

    This never occurred to me. Based on what you’re saying, some of the folks complaining on Facebook about the machines might have been from outside Espirito Santo and thus could not have cast a vote for him anyway.

    Patrick, they all are from outside Espirito Santo state. I’ve been reading so much stupid comments all over Facebook to the conclusion that people, in despair to explain why Costa’s lost the election, have entered the “conspiracy theory” mode.

    All candidates’ numbers, except for presidents, are unique only inside the state they represent. The numbers are associated to the party the candidates belong to, thus being repeated all over the country.

    If Costa’s number was “4422” in Espirito Santo state and someone tries to input “4422” in some other state, of course they’ll see another name and Picture in the voting machines.

    This is no magic nor conspiracy, folks. It is just how things are.

  10. what’s really kinda disturbing is that he could escape any kind of prosecution due to being an elected official. Even if he got elected, the crime happened before the election and he should still be prosecuted.

  11. Diego: Guys, about the “malfunction” of the electronic voting machines, please…

    Let me try to clarify: people can only vote for congressmen
    state representatives and senators OF THEIR OWN STATE.

    This is exactly what happened! It’s embarrassing to see that Brazilian TelexFREE afiliates have NO IDEA of BASIC voting procedures. We all have witnessed many, many, many, people stupidly saying that the same “another candidate showed up when pressing the numbers”- and if you check 100% odf these people were voting in OTHER STATES.

    It’s embarassing for Brazilians to have citizens like these. They go to vote having no idea of how it works or what the different political offices do. But I guess, this huge amount of ignorant people is the same that still cheer for Ponzi schemes, and hope they’ll make it rich by taking money illegally from others.

    To Summarize: NO CONSPIRACY! CArlos Costa Lost! The world appreciate and regains hope in human kind!

  12. Here’s the list of all “PONZI LOVERS” Candidates for Federal Deputy in Brazil. All of them had the “MLM campaign” as their campaign center.
    ALL OF THEM LOST!
    Thank you Brazilians! You made me regain faith in Human Kind!
    NAME – Position wanted – State – Votes – result
    * Carlos Costa – Dep. Federal – ES – 11.635 votes – 31º
    * Tota – Dep. Federal – ES – 1.958 votes – 66ª –
    * Carlos Alberto – Dep. Estadual – ES – 230 votes – 334º
    * Aerci – Dep. Federal – SC – 4.465 votes – 54º
    * Popó – Dep. Federal – BA – 23.017 votes – 63º
    * Roberto Duarte – Senator – AC – 17.119 votes – 3º
    * Moisés Diniz – Dep. Federal – AC – 13.738 votes – 10º

  13. http://www.jornal.us/article-681110.Carlos-Costa-toma-surra-nas-urnas-e-vai-ficar-sem-a-imunidade-parlamentar.html

    Google translate says:

    The plan being dreamed by a privileged immunity, went downhill. The candidate for the office of Congressman, dragged down by problems with the return of the money invested in Telexfree, failed to be elected in the state of Espírito Santo.

  14. Quick note: Looks as though both the Costa Facebook campaign site and the regular campaign site have been taken offline.

    Not sure if he ever issued a concession statement or even thanked his campaign staff.

    Patrick

  15. PatrickPretty.com:
    Quick note: Looks as though both the Costa Facebook campaign site and the regular campaign site have been taken offline.

    Not sure if he ever issued a concession statement or even thanked his campaign staff.

    Patrick

    Not publicly. He’ll probably use that as an excuse to disappear from public eyes, since the EY audit results should be brought to light in a few days.

    When SEC investigation was made public, Costa had disappeared for about 2 months.

  16. Canal do Otário also posted an article about Costa’s defeat:
    http://wp.me/p2OgjU-2CE