Messages found on Daniel Vorcaro’s cell phone, obtained by the Federal Police (PF), show that the former banker classified the meeting he had in December 2024 with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and government ministers at the Planalto Palace as “great”.
GLOBO had access to message exchanges between the former banker and his then-girlfriend, Martha Graeff, on December 4, 2024.
In the morning, she writes to her boyfriend wishing him good luck and that he can achieve his goal. Just before two in the afternoon, Vorcaro replies that the meeting is “over now”. “It was great/ Very strong/ He called the president of the central bank who will come in/ 3 ministers”, he said.
The meeting, revealed by GLOBO columnist Lauro Jardim, is not on Lula’s official agenda. At the time, the owner of Banco Master was already working to solve the bank’s liquidity problems. Former PT Economy Minister Guido Mantega mediated the meeting with the president, which was also attended by ministers Rui Costa (Casa Civil) and Alexandre Silveira (Mines and Energy).
With the meeting already underway, the president sent for the future president of the Central Bank, Gabriel Galípolo.
This year, Lula stated in an interview that Vorcaro told him that he was suffering “persecution”.
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When asked, in an interview with the UOL portal, about the meeting he had with the banker, Lula said he had already received other businesspeople. The president also confirmed that Vorcaro was taken to meet him by Mantega, who provided consultancy to the bank.
“First, I already received Itaú, Bradesco, Santander, BTG Pactual, and I didn’t have an agenda with me. And when Guido came with André Vorcaro (sic) to Brasília and asked me to answer, I called (Gabriel) Galípolo (president of the Central Bank), Rui Costa (minister of the Civil House), from Bahia, who knew him. And he then told me about the persecution he was suffering, that there were people interested in overthrowing him, I don’t know what how many”, said Lula.
“What I told him: there will be no political position for or against the Master Bank. What there will be will be a technical investigation, carried out by the Central Bank. That was the conversation. ‘Don’t worry, politics will not enter into the investigation of your bank, what will enter will be the technical competence of the Central Bank to know if it is wrong, if you have gone broke, if you haven’t gone broke, if you have laundered money or not. And that is what is being done”, added the president.
The owner of Banco Master, Daniel Vorcaro, was at Palácio do Planalto at least four times between 2023 and 2024 in off-schedule meetings.
