Brazil’s financial intelligence unit, the Council for Financial Activities Control (Coaf), flagged R$27.2 million (approximately US$4.8 million) paid by Banco Master to the Metrópoles news portal between 2024 and 2025, according to a report obtained by Brazilian media. The document identifies the payments as potentially suspicious because Metrópoles immediately transferred money to other companies linked to the family of Luiz Estevão, the portal’s owner.
Coaf said the flow “may constitute possible movement of funds for the benefit of third parties.” It also described the Master payments as “unusual” and said Metrópoles’ financial activity was “incompatible with the company’s average monthly revenue.” The report does not itself establish that the transactions were illegal.
The Money Trail
Banco Master sent a total of R$27,283,800 to Metrópoles Marketing e Propaganda Ltda. Two payments made in the second half of 2024 totaled R$838,800. The remaining transfers took place from January through October 2025, with monthly payments reaching between R$5 million and R$5.7 million, according to the document.
The report says Metrópoles made immediate debits to companies including Madison Gerenciamento S.A., Sense Construções e Participações S.A. and Macondo Construções e Participações S.A. Luiz Estevão and his daughters hold ownership stakes or management positions in those firms, the report says. The alerts that led to the Coaf report were filed by Caixa Econômica Federal, Brazil’s state-owned bank.
Caixa cited unusually large incoming transfers, immediate outgoing payments and possible transactions involving politically exposed persons. Coaf summarized the concern as the movement of funds that did not match Metrópoles’ average monthly revenue and that may have benefited third parties.
Estevão’s Explanation
Estevão told reporters that the payments were commercial sponsorship by Will Bank, which at the time belonged to Banco Master. The agreement covered Metrópoles’ broadcasts of the 2025 Brazilian Série D football championship and the sale of the competition’s naming rights. The tournament was branded “Brasileirão Série D Will Bank,” the first time the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) competition had sold naming rights, according to the reports.
He denied that the amounts were excessive and said the agreed value should have been higher, but payments stopped after Banco Master was liquidated. He said the bank still owed money and that he was seeking payment.
Estevão also defended the transfers to companies connected to his family. “The money I received becomes mine and I can do whatever I want with it,” he said, citing the possibility of buying advertising in another newspaper, transferring the money to his own companies or purchasing property.
The timing of the payments raised a separate question in the reporting. Transfers began in January 2025, but the Série D started only on April 19. Metrópoles and the CBF announced the broadcast agreement on July 2 and 3, and the first free YouTube broadcasts came during the 11th round, on July 5 and 6. The Will Bank logo appeared on the central advertising boards only from July 26, during the 14th round—more than three months after the championship began and six months after the first Master transfers.
Why It Matters
The transactions emerged as Banco Master faced a broader crisis. Owner Daniel Vorcaro attempted to sell the bank to Brasília’s state-controlled bank, BRB, in March 2025. He later became the target of an investigation into alleged billion-real financial fraud, and the Central Bank ordered Banco Master’s liquidation in November. Vorcaro is in custody, according to the reports.
The Coaf document leaves a documentary trail for a question with wider political implications: whether a bank later liquidated by regulators financed a major news outlet, while the money was quickly routed to companies linked to the outlet’s owner. The available reports describe an allegation and Estevão’s response; they do not resolve the legality or purpose of the transfers.