The film produced in honor of the already controversial former president — “underdog”, in English — had a total cost of US$ 13.4 million, or around R$ 75 million, and did not receive incentives or public resources, according to private expertise hired by Go Up Entertainment’s defense.
The report with this data was attached to a police investigation investigating the alleged use of public funds in the film. The suspicion is that resources have been diverted from a contract between the City of São Paulo and the Instituto conhecimento Brasil, chaired by Karina Ferreira da Gama, owner of the “” production company.
With the so-called “preventive investigative expertise”, the defense tries to anticipate the work of the police and maintain the non-existence of the deviations being investigated.
In addition to the alleged use of public resources, the total cost of the cinematographic work also became the target of questions after the leak of an audio of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (-RJ), pre-candidate for the Presidency, of resources, former controller of, to finance the production.
The report states that the expenses incurred in Brazil, between June 1, 2025 and June 4, 2026, totaled R$20,927,664.75, a value that, based on the conversion rate adopted by the expert, corresponds to US$3,728,084.66. In the United States, production costs were calculated at US$9,664,996.63, or approximately R$54.2 million.
Combined, the two production fronts total US$ 13,393,081.29. The value represents around 56% of the R$134 million that would have been foreseen in negotiations revealed by the website involving Flávio Bolsonaro and Daniel Vorcaro.
One of the central points of the report is the role of the Havengate Development Fund LP, a fund based in the United States. According to expertise, the fund signed an investment contract for the film on February 24, 2025. Until the date of preparation of the report, the contributions attributed to Havengate totaled US$ 13.3 million, an amount equivalent to the total declared cost of production.
According to a report from Sheetthe, lawyer linked to former federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP), son of Jair Bolsonaro who has lived in the United States since February 2025. The report maintains that the resources analyzed have a private origin, but limits the conclusion to the documents presented by the defense to the expert.
The name of Vorcaro or other potential financiers of the work are not mentioned in the report. The former banker paid R$61 million to finance the film.
The expertise states that the existence of the contract with Havengate, together with the bank statements, shipping documents and financial records analyzed, indicates the private origin of the resources. The report states that it did not identify, in the material examined, the use of public funds, tax incentives, the Rouanet Law or resources originating from the City of São Paulo.
The expert’s conclusion, however, is limited to the documents presented for analysis.
The private expert was hired by Karina’s defense, led by lawyer Ricardo Sayeg, who says he advised postponing the film’s premiere, to prevent the work from being associated with the electoral dispute. “So that there are no doubts about the cultural and artistic nature, my recommendation forwarded to Karina, which is being analyzed together with people from the USA, is that the film be released after the elections”, said Sayeg.
HAS Sheet Karina stated that she is studying the recommendation and may postpone the launch. Sayeg states that the production is exempt and that Karina’s goal is to win the Oscar. “We want the Oscar in the categories of best film, best director, best actor, best supporting actor, best original screenplay and best international film,” said Karina, in a note sent earlier.
The Federal Police are also investigating whether amounts transferred by Vorcaro may have been used to finance Eduardo Bolsonaro’s expenses in the United States. Flávio and Eduardo deny irregularities.
On another front, São Paulo City Hall this week removed Rodrigo Raveli Bolzan, manager of SPTuris, a municipal tourism company, after the Municipal Comptroller General opened an investigation into his connection with companies and entities associated with the case.
Before taking up the position at the municipal company, Bolzan was a partner at Complexys Soluções Integradas, one of the companies investigated by the Civil Police in the investigation investigating the hypothesis that public resources received by the Instituto Saber Brasil had been diverted and ended up in the production of “Dark Horse”.
ICB signed a R$108 million contract with the city hall to supply Wi-Fi.
When contacted to comment on the amounts spent on the work, Flávio Bolsonaro had not commented until the publication of this report. The senator was contacted through his advisors.
“The production took place, my father’s film exists, professionals were hired and everything was done privately. They transformed a cultural project into a political narrative because there is a pre-candidacy on the way,” he said, in May.
