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A luxury penthouse where former Rio de Janeiro governor Cláudio Castro now lives is formally owned by a real estate company linked to a lawyer with deep connections in state politics, according to single-source reporting from O Globo.
The newspaper reports that J3 Real Estate, a company owned by lawyer José Mauro de Farias Junior, bought the property in June 2023 for R$3.5 million (roughly USD 650,000 at recent rates), paid in cash. Castro’s defense says the former governor moved into the apartment this year and pays about R$10,000 (roughly USD 1,850) a month in rent.
The Property Trail
O Globo reported that an architecture firm submitted the first renovation plan for the penthouse in September 2023, three months after the purchase. The renovation was fully delivered only in September 2025.
Mauro became closer to Castro after leading Rio state’s Digital Transformation Secretariat from July 2022 to December 2024. Castro created the department in 2022, shortly before that year’s election campaign.
According to Brazil’s Electoral Prosecutor’s Office, Castro’s campaign directed R$2.6 million (roughly USD 480,000) to a supplier that passed the money to another company linked to Mauro, P5 Soluções. Prosecutors alleged the transaction showed misuse of public resources without proof that services were delivered, but the Electoral Court shelved the complaint.
Budget and Political Links
In 2023, the first full year of the Digital Transformation Secretariat, the department reserved R$216 million (roughly USD 40 million) in spending, O Globo reported. Of that amount, R$80 million (roughly USD 15 million) went to purchases and service contracts, more than some larger state departments spent on the same category.
That year, Mauro received the Tiradentes Medal, Rio state’s top legislative honor, from Rodrigo Bacellar, then the powerful president of the Rio de Janeiro State Legislative Assembly (Alerj). Bacellar praised Mauro’s “tireless work” in state roles, according to O Globo.
Bacellar is now jailed under accusations of involvement with criminal factions. The article also traces links between Bacellar and Mauro’s brother, Rafael Thompson de Farias, who served as Bacellar’s chief of staff and earlier held posts during the administration of former Rio governor Sérgio Cabral.
A Broken Alliance
Thompson worked from 2009 to 2014 as an events coordinator in Cabral’s Civil House, then served as a sports undersecretary under Marco Antônio Cabral, the former governor’s son. He later returned to Rio’s state government through Bacellar in 2021 and became the number two official in the Government Secretariat.
O Globo says the relationship between Bacellar and the Farias brothers deteriorated during 2023. Thompson was dismissed from Bacellar’s office in October that year, and Mauro became a target of lawmakers allied with Bacellar in a state inquiry into digital transformation contracts.
Bacellar continued criticizing the area before his arrest in late 2025. In one speech, he said Rio’s Military Police budget was below that of Proderj, the state information technology agency tied to Mauro’s secretariat, and said Proderj had accumulated R$1.6 billion (roughly USD 300 million) in price-registration arrangements since early 2024.
Thompson later took a post in Rio city government under Mayor Eduardo Paes, a Bacellar rival, and now heads Rioluz, the city’s public lighting agency. Asked by O Globo, Thompson said each appointment reflected his technical profile and public-management qualifications, and said he had never been present at any renovation work on his brother’s property.