Businessman was approached when he was preparing to board a flight to Curitiba, Paraná, and had his cell phone seized;
Investor Nelson Tanure was one of the targets of the investigation, launched by the Federal Police this Wednesday (17 January 2026), which is investigating Banco Master. The measures were authorized by Minister Dias Toffoli, of the STF (Supreme Federal Court).
Tanure was approached when he was preparing to board a flight to Curitiba (PR) and had his cell phone seized. The decision also authorized measures against banker Daniel Vorcaro and his family. In the decision, Toffoli highlighted the risk of delay in complying with the measure.
According to the minister, the PF identified new signs of crimes, which justified taking new steps against Vorcaro. The minister also decreed the temporary arrest of Fabiano Zettel, the banker’s brother-in-law.
In a note, the defense stated that Tanure has no corporate relationship with Banco Master. According to Pablo Testoni, the seizure of the cell phone by the PF will show the non-existence of any alleged illicit practice. Here is it (PDF – 311 KB).
Born in Salvador (BA) in 1951, Tanure graduated in Business Administration from UFBA (Federal University of Bahia) in 1974. He started working at the age of 16, initially informally. He also took additional training courses at institutions such as Harvard Business School and Columbia University.
Nelson Tanure has worked in the financial and business restructuring market for decades. Its profile is associated with the acquisition of companies in financial difficulties, with subsequent reorganization and appreciation of assets.
Currently, he leads projects and investments in sectors such as energy, telecommunications, oil, health, infrastructure and media. In November 2023, it expanded its stake in Light, an electric energy concessionaire that operates in Rio de Janeiro and the metropolitan region, starting to play an active role in the company’s financial and operational recovery.
Outside the business world, he maintains an interest in classical music. He was vice-president of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra and has one of the largest private record collections of its kind in the country. In 1998, it acquired the collection of economist Mario Henrique Simonsen, former music critic for the magazine Look.
Here is the full defense note:
As lawyer for NELSON SEQUEIROS RODRIGUEZ TANURE and given the news that the businessman was included in the search and seizure operation launched with authorization from the STF, it is clarified:
1) Businessman NELSON SEQUEIROS RODRIGUEZ TANURE, who has decades of professional experience in the securities market, has never faced any criminal proceedings due to alleged criminal practices in the context of the companies in which he is or was a shareholder.
2) In this sense, and not having any relationship of a corporate nature with BANCO MASTER S/A, of which he has been a client in recent years, under the same conditions in which he is also served by other well-known financial institutions in the market, businessman NELSON SEQUEIROS RODRIGUEZ TANURE informs that the only measure imposed on him was limited to the seizure of his cell phone device, so that with this the businessman is certain that during the investigations carried out by the STF he will definitively remain demonstrated the non-existence of any alleged illicit practice arising from this relationship.
MPF COMPLAINT
Another recent controversy involves a criminal complaint from the Federal Public Ministry, which accuses Tanure of alleged use of privileged information in the process of purchasing the developer Upcon by Gafisa, between 2019 and 2020.
According to the MPF, he had participated in financial maneuvers to artificially inflate the company’s value, increasing his influence within the construction company. The defense says that there was no crime, that the operation was approved by the shareholders and that the CVM never pointed out irregularities.
Find out which are some of the companies that Nelson Tanure participated in:
- Sequip: engineering company focused on the oil sector; Tanure participated in the financial and operational reorganization of the company at the beginning of its business trajectory, in the 1980s.
- CGEE Alsthom: acting as a minority partner in a company linked to the electric energy sector, participating in corporate and strategic reorganization processes.
- Emaq Shipyard: acquired when operations were suspended; it underwent restructuring and resumption of activities before being sold in 1994.
- Estaleiro Verolme: assumed in a critical situation; it was restructured and later incorporated into the Japanese company Ishibras.
- Companhia Docas de Santos: Tanure took control and promoted an administrative restructuring and diversification of activities in the early 2000s.
- Brazilian newspaper: leased in 2001, with the aim of preserving the historic brand and financially reorganizing the communication vehicle.
- Mercantil Gazette: taken over in 2003 in the midst of a serious financial crisis, focusing on preserving the economic newspaper and reorganizing its operations.
- PRIO (former HRT / PetroRio): became the main shareholder in 2013, leading a profound restructuring process that transformed the company into one of the main independent oil companies in the country.
- Lying Telecom: group that brings together assets such as Sercomtel and Copel Telecom; underwent corporate and strategic reorganization after Tanure joined between 2020 and 2021.
- Alliança Saúde (formerly Alliar): relevant participation in the financial and operational restructuring, consolidating the company in the medical diagnostics sector.
- Light: expanded its stake in the energy concessionaire in Rio de Janeiro and began to act directly in the company’s financial and operational recovery.
- EMAE (Metropolitan Water and Energy Company): after privatization in 2024, Tanure assumed a central role in the company’s reorganization, becoming chairman of the board of directors.
