from , paid R$27.2 million to the Metrópoles portal, owned by former senator Luiz Estevão, from 2024 to 2025, during negotiations with BRB.
The transfers are included in reports from Coaf (Financial Activities Control Council).
When contacted, Estevão stated that the amounts relate to football sponsorships and “dissemination of advertising content and marketing of brands” from Master and Will Bank, a liquidated institution that belonged to the same conglomerate.
“Amid negotiations with BRB, which lasted until September 2025, the Master/Will Bank group sought to strengthen the brand in the local environment,” the former senator told Sheet in March.
The Coaf report, as , points to signs of possible irregularities in part of these payments, as the amounts were quickly transferred to other accounts linked to Estevão or his family, practically in an “instant transfer”.
“The financial movement was characterized by the receipt of credit with the immediate debit of the amounts”, says the council in two reports, both in the second half of 2025.
This constitutes “possible movement of resources for the benefit of third parties”, according to the document.
Coaf points out that as soon as Master made the payment to the Metrópoles portal, the same amount was transferred in a series of transfers, the main recipient of which was Madison Gestão —a company that also belongs to Luiz Estevão.
“The Madison company is dedicated to managing the resources of Metrópoles Group companies, aiming to optimize the returns on their cash resources”, said the former senator.
Sense Construções and Macondo Construções, which belong to the family, also received resources from Metrópoles.
“The movement of resources between companies is a common practice in the corporate environment, and does not constitute any irregularity”, he added.
Banco Master was also contacted, but did not respond to the report’s questions.
The former senator points out that the R$27.2 million had six different origins.
Part of it was the acquisition of naming rights for Series D of the Brazilian Championship and sponsorship during broadcasts of the same tournament.
There was also an advertising agreement for the 2025 Super Cup, in which Flamengo beat Botafogo 3-1 at the Mangueirão stadium, in Belém.
In addition, there were other marketing campaigns to strengthen the Will Bank brand.
“Metropoles Marketing was an account holder at Banco Master, where it used to operate its own resources”, adds the former senator.
Now in prison, suspected of coordinating a billion-dollar fraud in the Brazilian financial market, Vorcaro tried to sell Master to BRB, a state institution in Brasília. At the time, the deal was questioned by the Central Bank.
In response, Vorcaro started a campaign —through influencers and advertising pieces— criticizing the BC and its directors.
During the negotiations, a photo of the now former director Renato Gomes was printed on LED panels managed by Metrópoles in Brasília, pointing out that he was responsible for making the deal difficult.
At the time, Gomes was head of the Financial System Organization and Resolution board, which recommended a veto on the purchase. The deal with BRB ended up, in fact, being blocked by the Central Bank.
Among investigators, there was also a suspicion that the portal had access to privileged information, due to the proximity between the institutions.
Estevão states that the information obtained by the group’s journalists is under source confidentiality, but that, “if lawyers working on the case want to provide us with facts, data and documents, they will be welcome.”
He adds that the BC’s performance was also questioned during the process and that Metrópoles’ LED panels display, in addition to advertisements, journalistic reports.
“According to public knowledge, several media outlets signed advertising contracts with the Master/BRB duo”, he added.
