Federal Police report says banker sought help from a justice before his arrest as court faces dispute over investigation
A Federal Police report made public Tuesday (1) indicates that Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes was the intended recipient of a series of messages from Daniel Vorcaro, the former owner of Banco Master. In them, the former banker sought intervention and details about the investigation that led to his first arrest, ordered last November. In one message, he allegedly asked Moraes whether he should leave the country. He also allegedly sought protection from the Federal Police and the prosecutor general’s office.
The Federal Police investigation began after a directive from Justice André Mendonça, who is overseeing the Banco Master case, instructing investigators to determine who received messages sent by Vorcaro. Mendonça requested that the prosecutor general’s office respond to the report. Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet—also mentioned in the document—then argued that the Federal Police report should be dismissed. Gonet stated that justices are not responsible for making accusations or “conducting pretrial investigations.”
The investigation revealed that the exchanges were on a former banker’s cellphone, with a contact named “Alexandre de Moraes BRASÍLIA.” The details had been sealed but were made public by Mendonça, who asked the Supreme Court to review the report in a public session.
Vorcaro asked in a message on November 15, “Were we able to do anything? Do you think I need to be out of the country by Monday?” Two days later, Judge Ricardo Leite of the 10th Federal Court in Brasília ordered the banker’s first arrest. The case was initially under seal in a lower federal court before being transferred to the Supreme Court.
The exchange indicates that Vorcaro suspected he might be arrested and knew parts of the investigation, even though the case files were not public. One indication is that the former banker already knew the case was before Leite, whom he referred to in one of the passages identified by the Federal Police. “Right in the week when I’m sorting everything out. That same Judge Ricardo?” Vorcaro asked on November 15.
Based on other messages attributed to the banker, he requested Moraes to intervene with Federal Police Director General Andrei Rodrigues and Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet. “Can’t we reverse this with Paulo or Andrei? This is really messed up,” Vorcaro allegedly told the Supreme Court justice on November 15 last year.
The former banker also allegedly sought legal guidance from Moraes. In one message, he said his defense team was considering filing petitions to determine whether there were ongoing investigations involving Master. He then asked whether the idea should be pursued. “I’m not going to make any move you don’t think would be productive. We’re in the dark.”
Another contact shortly before the decision resulted in his arrest. “Do you believe there’s any chance this will happen tomorrow morning?” Finally, on November 17, the day of his arrest, the former banker sent another message: “Any news? Were we able to find out anything or stop it?”
Federal Police investigators also identified nine occasions on which Moraes and Vorcaro allegedly met in person. The first meeting reportedly took place on March 13, 2024, and the last on Aug. 8, 2025. Investigators mapped the meetings through conversations in which other people referred to them.
The Federal Police report also says metadata from a R$131 million legal-services contract between Vorcaro and the law firm of Moraes’s wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes, identifies a username linked to the justice as the author of the last change made to the draft.
Messages show that Vorcaro treated the agreement with the law firm as a priority. In one exchange, dated March 15, 2024, the banker demanded urgent action after employees were late making one of the payments under the agreement.
In a message to Angelo Silva, the former banker wrote that it was the “most important contract we have. I asked you not to let this happen. Unreal. We’re going to have problems. Pay it now.”
The Master owner then sent another message to an employee identified as “Romy Banco Master,” saying payment to the firm could not be “a day late” because “it is the most important payment we have.” He added that the payment could be made “without an invoice” and completed later “however necessary.”
Investigators also identified a draft of a second proposed agreement between Vorcaro and the law firm of Moraes’s wife, valued at R$50 million. The document, dated May 2025, provided for the former banker to pay for the services by transferring ownership of two aircraft.
Viviane Barci’s law firm issued two statements. In one, it said the R$131 million contract had been submitted to Moraes for assessment of any potential conflicts or legal impediments. However, the firm denied that a R$50 million contract existed. “Banco Master’s proposal was not accepted, nothing was signed, and the original contract was terminated when the bank was liquidated, ending any relationship with the institution.”
Prosecutor general drawn into Master messages
Gonet is also mentioned elsewhere in the Federal Police report. Investigators said Vorcaro communicated with the prosecutor general through intermediaries, with contacts allegedly facilitated by lawyer Ciro Soares, who represented the former banker.
In conversations from March 2025, Gonet allegedly asked Soares to pass messages to Vorcaro saying he missed the former banker, and to offer compliments after plans for a trip to London were confirmed.
On March 15, 2025, Soares sent Vorcaro a photograph of himself with Gonet, along with a message asking the former banker to call because the prosecutor general wanted to speak with him. The report then records four voice calls between Vorcaro and Soares, each lasting a few minutes.
Days later, on March 28, the lawyer sent three messages that he said he was forwarding at Gonet’s request. In them, the prosecutor general allegedly wrote: “Great! I’m rooting for you guys!”; “I already miss you! I’m boarding a flight to Rome”; and “Send him this message.” Vorcaro replied: “Thank him very much for the affection. I miss him too, let’s arrange to get together.”
Soares then wrote: “He adores you.” “He’s going to London with us,” he added, before forwarding another message, again attributed to Gonet: “Great!!! I hope there’ll be cigars and Macallan!” Vorcaro replied: “Now we’ll need a cigar plantation and a barrel of Macallan hahaha.”
The following day, according to messages highlighted in the Federal Police report, Soares told Vorcaro that “Gonet asked whether his son can go to London with us.” The former banker responded positively: “Obviously.” The lawyer then forwarded another message attributed to Gonet: “You’re a machine LOL.”
According to the report, Vorcaro received a list from an employee containing names of people “to go to London with expenses paid by us.” The Master owner did not agree with the list but made an exception for “Pedro and Ciro,” whose expenses would be covered, an apparent reference to Pedro Gonet and Ciro Soares.
The event in London was a whisky tasting that the Federal Police director general also allegedly attended.
Justice sends dispute to full Supreme Court
In Tuesday’s decision to make the document public, Mendonça asked the full Supreme Court to consider the report in a “public and transparent” session. He is expected to formally submit the case for consideration next week. Supreme Court President Edson Fachin will then decide when to schedule it. Contacted for comment, Fachin did not respond.
Without mentioning Moraes, Mendonça suggested the existence of an alleged monitoring and influence network that might have been working to benefit Banco Master. He added that, based on the exchanges found by the Federal Police, “the natural progression of these proceedings is to the plenary of this Supreme Court, the sovereign body responsible for thoroughly examining the new evidence presented by the police in a strictly legal and technical manner.”
Moraes and Mendonça met to discuss the case before the Federal Police report was made public. People familiar with the conversation described the meeting as “very tense.” Moraes allegedly questioned whether Mendonça had allowed the Federal Police to investigate him and accused his colleague of steering the investigation. Mendonça, in turn, was said to have asked Moraes how he had learned that investigators were digging deeper into the case.
Prosecutor general seeks to invalidate police report
In his filing with the Supreme Court, Gonet asked that the Federal Police report be declared invalid. “The justice overseeing the case does not even have the authority to direct police action against targets he decides to pursue. At the pretrial stage, investigations are conducted by the judicial police, while the Public Prosecutor’s Office, as the prosecuting authority with exclusive power to bring criminal charges, may also seek evidence on which to base its conclusions.”
Gonet asserted that Mendonça was aware the investigation would involve officials eligible for direct trial by higher courts, including Moraes. “He knew Moraes was among them. He could not have failed to know that. The directive for the Federal Police investigation is dated August 24, 2026. By that date, the judge handling the case already possessed all the detailed material he needed in writing.”
Gonet argued that Mendonça actively sought evidence that Moraes may have been involved in wrongdoing. “Regardless of the extent to which the measure constitutes an investigation, it is undeniable that there was an examination of material in the case aimed at finding evidence of Justice Alexandre de Moraes’s involvement in unlawful acts.”
The prosecutor general further argued that by ordering investigative material to be examined regardless of which authorities it involved, Mendonça effectively imposed an investigation on Moraes. The result, he said, was a 218-page Federal Police report, “nearly 190” pages of which concern the justice.
Moraes, Mendonça, Fachin, the Federal Police and Vorcaro’s defense team did not respond to requests for comment.
*By Tiago Angelo, Giullia Colombo, Mateus Coutinho, Isadora Peron and Mariana Andrade, Valor — Brasília
Source: Valor International
https://valorinternational.globo.com/