Daslu's import tax-evasion scheme destroyed Brazil's 'temple of luxury'

Daslu was São Paulo's temple of luxury: a single vast emporium where Brazil's wealthiest bought Chanel, Prada and Rolex, with estimated annual sales of about $150 million. Its prices — and its margins — depended on importing goods at costs the Brazilian tax authorities did not accept.

In July 2005, 250 federal police agents raided the store in a government sting operation. Daslu was barred from importing for 13 months, and the business began to bleed. In December 2006 the Receita Federal assessed it R$236 million in unpaid import taxes, penalties and interest for 2001–2005. In March 2009, owner Eliana Tranchesi and co-defendants were convicted of smuggling, tax evasion and forming a criminal organization, and sentenced to 94½ years in prison.

With debts mounting and some 200 creditors unpaid, Daslu entered judicial recovery — Brazil's bankruptcy protection — in 2010. In March 2011 the private equity fund Laep Investments bought the business for 65 million reais ($39 million). Tranchesi's shares were bought out for a symbolic 1,000 reais — about $602. The temple had been sold for the price of a handbag.