The Second Panel of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) formed a majority this Friday (13), to maintain the preventive detention of the banker and owner of Banco Master, Daniel Vorcaro. Minister André Mendonça, rapporteur of the inquiry at the Court, opened the vote at 11 am and was fully accompanied by ministers Luiz Fux and Nunes Marques. The vote remains for Gilmar Mendes.
When voting to confirm Vorcaro’s arrest decree, the minister emphasized his reasons. “From this perspective, I highlight that the crimes being investigated involve billion-dollar amounts and have a potential impact on the national financial system. There is, from another perspective, evidence of an attempt to obtain confidential information about ongoing investigations and monitoring of authorities. And there is strong evidence of the existence of a group designed to intimidate opponents and monitor authorities, which reveals a concrete risk of interference in the investigations.”
The rapporteur explained why he does not accept alternative measures to the custody of Vorcaro and other Compliance Zero targets. “The less serious measures provided for in our legal system do not, in relation to those being investigated, have the ability to impede the risk scenario for investigations, the investigation of illicit products and their future recovery, presented by the Federal Police. The freedom of those being investigated thus directly compromises the effectiveness of the investigation and social trust in criminal justice.”
In Mendonça’s assessment, “allowing them to remain free means keeping a criminal organization in operation that has already caused billions in damage to society”. “From another perspective, there is a concrete risk of destruction of evidence, as those investigated demonstrated that they have means of access to sensitive documents and state systems, in addition to the control of companies instrumentalized in carrying out illicit activities in their interests.”
The minister indicates his concern about the power of Vorcaro’s group. “The criminal organization demonstrates a very high capacity for reorganization, even after the start of operations. Therefore, if those under investigation remain free, there is a high risk of articulation with public agents and the continued practice of hiding and recycling capital through the use of shell companies.”
He highlighted that the banker and his allies continued to operate even after the PF launched the first phase of Compliance Zero. “With regard to the contemporary element, criminal activities, as demonstrated by the Federal Police on their behalf, continued to occur even after the beginning of the investigation and the operations resulting from it.”
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“Based on these reasons, associated with the detailed description of the continuous and repeated practice of illicit conduct on the part of those investigated, who occupy key positions in the criminal organization, I understand that it is a case of granting the request for preventive detention formulated by the Federal Police in relation to Daniel Vorcaro, Fabiano Zettel (brother-in-law of the banker) and Marilson Roseno da Silva (former federal police officer)”, pointed out the rapporteur.
The minister noted, in the 53-page vote, that the preventive detention decree also requires the verification of at least one of the four hypotheses of “periculum libertatis” (danger of freedom, in Latin), provided for in article 312 of the Criminal Procedure Code – preventive detention may be decreed as a guarantee of public order, economic order, for the convenience of criminal investigation or to ensure the application of criminal law, when there is proof of the existence of the crime and sufficient evidence of authorship and danger generated by the state of freedom of the investigated.
For Mendonça, in the case of the Master’s banker “the ‘fumus commissi delicti’ (evidence of the commission of the crime) is characterized, embodied in the well-founded evidence of participation of those investigated in the serious crimes investigated in Operation Compliance Zero, and the requirements of ‘periculum libertatis’ are also present, both with regard to the convenience of criminal investigation, in view of the wide network of connections of those investigated, the evidence of threats to people who go against the interests of the group criminal, the continuous use of mechanisms to hide the traces of crimes and the high possibility of eliminating and manipulating documents and evidence capable of elucidating details of the criminal practice”.
According to the minister, “in relation to guaranteeing public order, given the need for social pacification through the creation of a feeling in society of a rapid response by the justice system to a crime of extremely high social repercussion, with billion-dollar dimensions, the risk of criminal repetition and the subjective scope of the illicit acts committed, which impacted the lives of millions of Brazilians and the credibility of public and private financial institutions”.
Mendonça pointed to the “future application of criminal law, once the signs of continuing criminal practices with enormous social and economic impact, money laundering and concealment and squandering of illicitly obtained assets are considered”.
“With custody, the destruction or alteration of evidence, the combination of versions with other members of the criminal organization, the concealment of assets and business documents, and influence over employees of the companies being investigated are avoided”, points out the rapporteur. For him, ‘the verification of just one of the three requirements of ‘periculum libertatis’ would be enough, in theory, to justify the extreme measure of precautionary segregation of those investigated, despite all three occurring cumulatively in the specific case”.
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To conclude the trial, the vote of minister Gilmar Mendes remains. The analysis takes place in the Court’s Virtual Plenary and began at 11am, lasting one week, ending at 11:59pm next Friday, the 20th.
Suspicion
On Wednesday, the 11th, Minister Dias Toffoli, who is also part of the Second Panel of the Court, declared himself a suspect to participate in the trial. He had already been removed from reporting on the case on February 12, with the support of the other ministers of the Court, after confirmation from the Federal Police that he had maintained links with a fund linked to the banker.
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Vorcaro’s allegations to try to get out of prison
To overturn Vorcaro’s arrest decree, his defense sought to fulminate the four core points of the Federal Police’s representation, accepted by Mendonça on a preliminary basis.
- The content of the messages allegedly exchanged between the banker and the people of Paulo Sérgio Neves de Souza, Belline Santana (both Central Bank employees), Fabiano Campos Zettel (Vorcaro’s brother-in-law) and Luiz Phillipi Machado de Moraes Mourão (the ‘Sicário’, who committed suicide at the PF in Belo Horizonte last week);
- The alleged existence of a group called ‘A Turma’, as well as the alleged invasion of ‘restricted public bodies’ systems and ‘removal of content and profiles on digital platforms’ by members of this group;
- The supposed ‘financial flows’ and ‘payments’ destined for the Vorcaro group with the participation of Leonardo Augusto Furtado Palhares and Ana Cláudia Queiroz de Paiva;
- An alleged blocking of R$ 2,245,235,850.24 in the second phase of Operation Compliance Zero in an account belonging to Henrique Vorcaro, father of Master’s banker, which would have occurred on January 14, 2026, in an account linked to the financial institution called Reag, in addition to allegations of probable asset dilapidation by Daniel Vorcaro.
Regarding the first point, the defense states that “there is no reference to any telephone records of Vorcaro after November 2025 with any of the people mentioned in the decision now being challenged, nor during this period was there any conduct (or attempted conduct) carried out to the detriment of the people repeatedly indicated by the media as alleged victims”.
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Regarding the existence of the group called “A Turma”, supposedly intended to carry out violent actions, in compliance with orders directly given by Vorcaro, his lawyers claim that he “is completely unaware of the existence of any WhatsApp group or any other electronic messaging platform/application with the name ‘A Turma’, and that, therefore, he has never participated in any group with that nomenclature, nor was it integrated by these people indicated in the decision”.
Still in relation to the activities carried out by the alleged armed group, whose monthly remuneration reached the figure of R$ 1 million, Vorcaro asserts that it would be a “mere illusion, devoid of credibility”. This is because, according to the defense, “there was not the slightest reference to firearms, that is, no one of those involved was caught in possession of weapons at the time of Vorcaro’s contacts with such people, making it undue not to be able to argue about the existence of a militia”.
As for the third element pointed out by the PF, the defense states that “all payments/bank transfers would be prior to the start of the first phase of Operation Compliance Zero”.
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Finally, regarding the fourth point listed by the investigators “there is no bank account in the name of his father, Henrique Vorcaro, with the money indicated (above 2.2 billion reais)”.
