Majority of the 2nd Panel endorsed Mendonça’s decision, which saw evidence of negotiation of R$ 140 million in bribes
The 2nd Panel of the Federal Supreme Court has a majority to maintain the preventive detention of the former president of the BRB (Bank of Brasília), Paulo Henrique Costa. He is suspected of negotiating R$140 million in bribes with the founder of Banco Master, Daniel Vorcaro.
The board began analyzing the decision this Wednesday (April 22, 2026). Voting takes place in the virtual plenary, an electronic system in which ministers cast their votes digitally. The deadline for all magistrates to vote is 11:59 pm on April 28.
The rapporteur, minister André Mendonça, began the trial by reinforcing the foundations of the decision that ordered the arrest of Paulo Henrique Costa and lawyer Daniel Monteiro on April 16th. The ministers accompanied the rapporteur:
- André Mendonça;
- Luiz Fux;
- Nunes Brands.
The minister Toffoli Days declared suspicion for the trial, maintaining the same position adopted in the referendum that maintained the preventive detention of Daniel Vorcaro.
Mendonça repeated the premises used in his initial decision. “Reiterating the understanding already expressed, based on the reasons reproduced, I vote for the referendum on the precautionary decision, in the terms in which it was issued”he declared. Read the two votes. (PDF – 22 KB).
Award Winning
Also this Wednesday, Paulo Henrique Costa decided to change his defense team. The executive replaced criminalist Cleber Lopes with lawyers Eugênio Aragão e Davi Tangerino. The expectation is that, like Daniel Vorcaro, Costa will seek to begin negotiations for a possible plea bargain agreement.
Stage 4 of Zero Compliance
The magistrate de Costa and lawyer Daniel Monteiro, under suspicion of negotiating with Vorcaro – of which R$74 million was actually paid, according to the Federal Police. Read the of the decision (PDF – 301 kB).
According to investigators, they were identified as a means of paying tuition fees. However, the PF that Vorcaro did not make the payments in full because he was aware of a confidential investigative procedure by the Federal Public Ministry, in April 2025, to investigate the payment of bribes to Costa.
Here are the properties attributed to the former president of BRB:
- Heritage;
- Arboreal;
- One Sixty;
- Lafer House;
- Ennius Muniz;
- Ipês Valley.
The investigations indicate that, upon becoming aware of the investigations, Vorcaro ordered the lawyer Daniel Monteiro “lock everything down”blocking payments and formalizing the recording of transactions. The police claim that it was Luiz Phillipi Machado de Moraes Mourão, known as Sicário, who forwarded the confidential pieces to Vorcaro on June 24, 2025.
“The set of information collected so far points to the high probability that he [Vorcaro] was aware of the initiation of the procedure before receiving the respective copies”stated Minister André Mendonça in the decision.
