The Federal Police (PF) is preparing a report on the first findings on Daniel Vorcaro’s cell phone and files that could affect political figures. Investigators with access to the material have already mapped a series of mentions of senator Ciro Nogueira, president of the PP, and are evaluating whether they will request the opening of an investigation to determine whether the parliamentarian acted to favor the banker. The document will be forwarded in the next few days to Minister André Mendonça, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), rapporteur of the Master case.
Messages held by the Federal Police show that Vorcaro signed an amendment by Ciro Nogueira inserted in a Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) that favored the Master. The proposal presented by the parliamentarian in August 2024 suggested increasing the value of compensation paid by the Credit Guarantee Fund (FGC) from R$250,000 to R$1 million for customers who have financial investments such as CDBs (bank deposit certificates) in financial institutions that are facing a crisis or difficulty in honoring their commitments.
In the dialogues, Vorcaro also reports that the repercussion was immediate. “Lol everyone calling me” (…) They felt the blow”, celebrated the banker. Nogueira’s proposal ended up being rejected due to lack of support.
During negotiations to sell Vorcaro’s financial institution to BRB, the Central Bank showed signs that it could reject the operation. Faced with this impasse, deputy Cláudio Cajado (PP-BA), an ally of Ciro Nogueira, articulated a request to speed up the processing of a bill that would allow Congress to remove BC presidents and directors. The attack had the support of different acronyms, but it did not go ahead because market pressure buried the maneuver.
In a message to his then girlfriend, Vorcaro described Nogueira as “one of my great friends in life”. This Monday, the senator said he knew “all the big businessmen in the country”, but stated that such relationships do not constitute proximity.
— I am invited to dinners, lectures, meetings. Now, his CPF is one, mine is another. What will guide my life path is my story, and you can be sure: if any allegations arise that are proven against Senator Ciro, I will resign my mandate — said the senator, when questioned by journalists about the matter.
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When analyzing Vorcaro’s messages and files, investigators have discarded the content of the banker’s private life, even if it involves personal relationships with politicians, from the material that is of interest to the investigation and that presents signs of irregularities. The objective of the Federal Police is to focus on findings that may reveal the commission of a crime.
For the investigation to continue being processed at the Federal Supreme Court (STF), it is necessary for the PF to point out the involvement, in the Master scandal, of a person entitled to privileged jurisdiction, such as, for example, a federal deputy or senator committing crimes in the exercise of their mandates.
Other political relationships
Before being arrested, Vorcaro used to recognize the importance of his network of political contacts. He told people close to him that he had made “strong friends” in Brasília, that “you can’t walk in Brazil if you don’t have this type of protection” and that, without the support of powerful people, he wouldn’t be where he was.
An exchange of messages between the then president of BRB, Paulo Henrique Costa, and Daniel Vorcaro, owner of Master, mentioned an alleged meeting with the commander of União Brasil, Antônio Rueda, during negotiations for the sale of the bank to the institution controlled by the Federal District government.
The dialogue was extracted from Vorcaro’s cell phone, the content of which is being analyzed by the Federal Police and the INSS CPI in Congress. Vorcaro, according to the investigation, took screenshots of certain WhatsApp conversations and saved the images in his cell phone’s gallery.
According to the dialogue, Costa sought out Vorcaro to tell him that he had spoken to Rueda and added that the president of União Brasil would also like to speak with the banker.
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At the time of the conversation, Costa and Vorcaro were negotiating a rescue operation for Master. The public bank controlled by the DF government announced the purchase of 58% of the total capital of the private financial institution for around R$2 billion. This operation was rejected by the Central Bank, which, at the end of last year, decreed the liquidation of Master on suspicion of fraud and financial difficulties in honoring its commitments.
When contacted, Paulo Henrique Costa, who left command of BRB after becoming the target of an investigation by the PF, stated, through lawyers, that “messages were exchanged in the context of the regular exercise of his responsibilities as president of Banco de Brasília (BRB), within the scope of institutional and commercial relations maintained by the bank.”
In a note sent to Piauí magazine, the party leader, who heads the Rueda & Rueda confirmed that he provided legal services to Master and made “dozens of opinions and hundreds of meetings, including more than 1,000 hearings, around 20 thousand protocols and approximately 400 agreements”. He did not, however, reveal the values.
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Rueda’s note also says that the service represents “legitimate professional activity, regular and fully compatible with the practice of law in the country”, which acted “on a strictly technical basis” and which “has always taken place within the most rigorous legal and ethical standards of law”.
Vorcaro and Master’s relationship with União Brasil also involved the former mayor of Salvador ACM Neto, vice-president of the party and pre-candidate for the government of Bahia. As O GLOBO showed, ACM Neto received R$3.6 million from Master and the resource manager Reag, according to a report from the Financial Activities Control Council (Coaf), a body linked to the Central Bank, between March 2023 and May 2024. He confirmed that he received the payments for having provided consultancy for the institution, but said that the services were regular.
