--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Sergio Moro by Bryan Walsh: TIME 100 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a3eb719afd04afb/69888fd8cd1bbac50470054d/time-100-2016-sergio-moro.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 20, 2016 # Sergio Moro by Bryan Walsh  Federal Judge Sergio Moro speaks during a business meeting promoted by Business Leaders Group (LIDE) in Sao Paulo Brazil on September 24 2015\. Moro is in charge of the investigation on oil giant Petrobras corruption scandal. AFP PHOTO / Nelson ALMEIDA (Photo credit should read NELSON ALMEIDA/AFP/Getty Images) Federal Judge Sergio Moro speaks during a business meeting promoted by Business Leaders Group (LIDE) in Sao Paulo Brazil on September 24 2015\. Moro is in charge of the investigation on oil giant Petrobras corruption scandal. AFP PHOTO / Nelson ALMEIDA (Photo credit should read NELSON ALMEIDA/AFP/Getty Images)Nelson Almeida—AFP/Getty Images Brazilians call him SuperMoro, chanting his name on the streets of Rio de Janeiro as if he were a soccer star. But Sergio Moro is just a judge, albeit one prosecuting a corruption scandal so huge it could bring down a President—and perhaps change a culture of graft that has long hobbled his country’s progress. Operation Car Wash, as his investigation is called, found that kickbacks were paid to middlemen and politicians in exchange for contracts at Petrobras, the state-run oil company. The money is huge, but even bigger is the political impact, with hundreds of lawmakers under investigation. Although she hasn’t been directly linked to any bribery, President Dilma Rousseff now faces impeachment in part because of Moro’s work. Moro has been accused of ignoring due process, and he’s been more than willing to try his cases in the court of public opinion. But most Brazilians feel that his sharp-elbowed tactics are worth the trade-off for a cleaner country. _Walsh is the international editor for TIME_ Sergio Moro by Bryan Walsh: TIME 100 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2016-time-100/4302096/sergio-moro-2016-time-100/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2016-time-100/4302096/sergio-moro-2016-time-100/"},"headline":"Sergio Moro","datePublished":"2016-04-20T21:06:56.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:13:49.645Z","description":"Cleaning up corruption","url":"https://time.com/collections/2016-time-100/4302096/sergio-moro-2016-time-100/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a3eb719afd04afb/69888fd8cd1bbac50470054d/time-100-2016-sergio-moro.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0a3eb719afd04afb/69888fd8cd1bbac50470054d/time-100-2016-sergio-moro.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/2016-time-100/4302096/sergio-moro-2016-time-100/","name":"Sergio Moro"}}]}] ```