In the new stage of investigations, messages were revealed that suggest the businessman’s proximity to authorities and important figures in Brazilian politics
The international press reported on the arrest of banker Daniel Vorcaro, owner of Banco Master, in the third phase of Operation Compliance Zero launched by the Federal Police this Wednesday (4). In the new stage of investigations, messages were revealed that suggest the businessman’s proximity to authorities and important figures in Brazilian politics.
The Spanish newspaper El País referred to Vorcaro as a “tycoon whose secrets make Brazil’s political class tremble”. In a report published this Wednesday, the text highlights that, in this operation on the businessman’s fraud, the suspects may try to close plea bargains.
“The Master case is a shadow hanging over much of Brazil’s economic and political elite, given its enormous ramifications. The biggest nightmare now is that Vorcaro, increasingly cornered, decides to reveal everything and confess the scheme to investigators in search of leniency. His connections reach political parties of all stripes,” he wrote.
Furthermore, the The text also highlights that Vorcaro and his assistants accessed restricted systems belonging to the Public Ministry, the Federal Police and even international organizations such as the FBI and Interpol..
“The powerful banker had at his disposal a kind of private militia called ‘The Gang’, a team of faithful who collected sensitive information and illegally spied and threatened opponents, authorities and journalists,” says the report.
The agency british news Reuters highlighted that Vorcaro’s preventive arrest was based on new evidence obtained by the Federal Police, including text messages from the banker’s cell phone.
In exchange for messages intercepted by the PF, Daniel Vorcaro allegedly asked Luiz Phillipi Machado de Moraes Mourão, known as “Sicário”, that journalist Lauro Jardim, from the newspaper O Globo, be attacked in a staged robbery. “Sicário” was responsible for carrying out activities aimed at obtaining confidential information and monitoring people.
“Some text messages obtained during the investigation showed Vorcaro telling the associate that he would like to have a journalist beaten. ‘Break out all his teeth, in a robbery,’ he said,” the text says.
The British newspaper Financial Times reported that Vorcaro was arrested for the second time. The report stated that “the arrests mark a significant escalation in the investigation into suspected fraud and money laundering at Banco Master, which collapsed last year with losses estimated at more than R$40 billion, in the biggest bank failure in Brazil in a generation.”
In the North American press, the agency Associated Press published that the Federal Police operation also ordered the freezing of assets worth R$22 billion. The report highlighted that in the 48-page decision that determined Vorcaro’s arrest, STF minister André Mendonça pointed to evidence of crimes against the financial and judicial systems, in addition to possible participation in a criminal organization and money laundering practices.
“Vorcaro was also part of a group that sought to obtain confidential information, monitor individuals considered adversaries of the group and carry out intimidation actions to protect the interests of the core of the criminal organization”, says the text.
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