A glamorous lawyer who has amassed a following online for reenacting her gangbanger clients’ cases is suspected of helping out the criminals she defended in court.
Viral attorney Gabriela Vieira Serafin’s home in the southern Brazilian city of Florianopolis was raided by drug enforcement agents on Tuesday morning as investigators suspect she may have used her privileged access to inmates to pass messages to and from gangsters on the outside.
Serafin was not home at the time and has not yet been charged with a crime — however police discovered and seized two cell phones, SIM cards, USB drives and memory cards hidden inside a child’s glove in her bedroom, according to NewsX.
Serafin’s mom, who was at the property, confirmed that the evidence belonged to her daughter and forensic experts are now examining the data. Her stepfather, who was also present for the 6 a.m. raid, was briefly detained and then released.
Serafin became internet famous as “Advogata” — a Portuguese portmanteau of the words “lawyer” and “cat” — posting first-person videos online depicting drug busts, home invasions and gang rivalries.
In one widely shared clip, she played the part of a woman allegedly caught weighing drugs inside an apartment. She then described alleged police violence that her client claimed had taken place during the arrest.
Another clip shows Serafin explaining how a gangster rented an apartment in the same building as a rival to monitor his movements.
“The guys were at war, but it was hard to catch their enemy out on the street. So what did they do? They rented an apartment in the same condominium as their enemy. Almost door-to-door. They stayed there just watching the movements,” she said in the video.
She then described the “Wild West” ambush that led to three people being charged with attempted murder.
It’s not clear exactly where Serafin, a registered lawyer with the Santa Catarina branch of the Brazilian Bar Association, was when officers from the Capital Drugs Combat Precinct, or DECOD, busted into her home at 6 a.m. Tuesday.
