PF Report Alleges Banker Sought Moraes’ Help During Banco Master Crisis

A report by Brazil’s Federal Police (PF) alleges that Daniel Vorcaro, owner of Banco Master, sought guidance and intervention from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes during the bank’s final days before a police operation and regulatory liquidation.

The messages, recovered from Vorcaro’s cellphone, cover 13 days in November 2025. According to single-source reporting by O Globo, Vorcaro asked Moraes how to respond to the crisis, whether authorities could be persuaded to delay an operation and whether the situation could be reversed.

The exchanges form part of a Federal Police report prepared under Operation Compliance Zero, an investigation into suspected financial fraud involving Banco Master. The document was sent to Justice André Mendonça, the case’s rapporteur at the Supreme Federal Court (STF).

Requests to Delay the Operation

On November 16, Vorcaro asked Moraes to try to persuade PF Director-General Andrei Rodrigues to postpone an operation until the following week. He wrote that the bank would survive if the authorities delayed action, apparently because of an upcoming holiday. Vorcaro also asked Moraes for his assessment of the situation and whether Rodrigues could “hold” the operation.

The banker was arrested the next day at São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport as he prepared to board a private jet to Dubai. The PF said at the time that the arrest involved suspected flight risk. The report does not establish what Vorcaro meant in a message sent to Moraes hours before his arrest asking whether there was “any news” or whether something had been “blocked.”

Vorcaro was also trying to arrange a sale of Banco Master assets to a consortium involving Fictor Holding Financeira and investment funds from the United Arab Emirates. The deal did not proceed after Operation Compliance Zero was launched, according to O Globo.

Concerns About Liquidation

The messages indicate that Vorcaro feared not only the police investigation but also an out-of-court liquidation by Brazil’s Central Bank. He asked Moraes whether Central Bank President Gabriel Galípolo was pressing for an intervention and requested help arranging a meeting with him.

Vorcaro argued that he needed to present a plan to resolve the bank’s problems. He wrote that authorities should not “set off an atomic bomb” while a solution was being prepared, saying such an outcome would harm the government, the economy and Brazil. Two days later, the Central Bank ordered Banco Master’s liquidation, removing it from Vorcaro’s control and creating multibillion-real exposure for Brazil’s Credit Guarantee Fund, which protects depositors and investors when financial institutions fail.

The messages also refer to Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet and federal judge Ricardo Soares Leite, who authorized the first phase of the police operation and later signed Vorcaro’s arrest warrant. In other exchanges, Vorcaro asked Moraes whether he should take legal action and said he would not make a move without the justice’s approval.

Supreme Court Review

The report says Vorcaro wrote messages in a notes application, took screenshots and sent them to Moraes as one-time-view images. Moraes responded to some messages, but the contents are unknown because his cellphone was not subject to a search of its communications.

Mendonça said Tuesday that he intends to submit the PF report to the Supreme Court’s full bench. He ordered that the hearing be public and in person and removed the confidentiality designation from the case. The court’s president, Justice Edson Fachin, is expected to set the date after the Prosecutor-General’s Office gives its position.