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🇧🇷 Brazil /Crime & Justice

Daniel Vorcaro Is the Supreme Court’s Master of Noise

From Folha de S.Paulo · () Portuguese

Translated from Portuguese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Opinion Sources not specified In the courts
  • The column says disputes between Supreme Court ministers Alexandre de Moraes and André Mendonça could affect investigations involving banker Daniel Vorcaro and Banco Master.
  • It argues that Vorcaro’s defense is seeking to invalidate the case and its evidence, potentially burying what the column calls Brazil’s largest financial fraud.
  • The text also scrutinizes private institutes linked to ministers and says André Mendonça’s Iter received R$11.5 million through 68 no-bid public contracts.

The ten ministers of Brazil’s Supreme Court should look at the statue of Justice in their offices, this column argues. She is blind. Court president Edson Fachin, it says, understands that Daniel Vorcaro’s allies are seeking to have the entire case and its evidence annulled.

The banker, described by the column as bankrupt, has repeatedly threatened to tell “the whole story” of Banco Master. From prison, the article says, he is achieving more than he expected. Alexandre de Moraes and André Mendonça have clashed over what should happen to police-held conversations between Moraes and Vorcaro. Mendonça wants the dialogues made public. Moraes wants Mendonça’s actions investigated.

the whole story

· Daniel VorcaroThe column says the banker repeatedly threatened to reveal everything about Banco Master.

The column invokes the principle that sunlight is the best disinfectant and says the dispute could allow the defense strategy to prevail. If the case were annulled, it argues, Brazil’s biggest financial fraud would disappear beneath the court’s robes. It compares that possibility with the collapse of the Lava Jato cases and says the problem was already visible when Justice Dias Toffoli controlled the case.

The sunlight is the best disinfectant.

· Louis BrandeisThe column invokes the American judge’s phrase while arguing that the police-held dialogues should be made public.

The article then turns to institutes associated with Supreme Court ministers. It says Mendonça may regret creating Iter, a private educational institution founded in 2024. The institute presents itself as a place where authorities teach what they practice. According to the column, Iter received R$11.5 million in public funds through 68 contracts without bidding from agencies in 15 states over two years.

The text compares Iter with the Instituto Brasileiro de Ensino, Desenvolvimento e Pesquisa, founded more than 20 years ago by Justice Gilmar Mendes. The institute expanded to Portugal and organizes lecture series known as “Gilmarpalooza,” bringing together judges, ministers, lawmakers and businesspeople. The column notes that Brazil’s current prosecutor general, Paulo Gonet, was one of its founders. It also says the law allows judges to teach and that each Supreme Court minister receives R$46,366.19, as well as a car and security in Brazil and overseas. The article ends by distinguishing between homeless people and public officials subject to salary caps, before turning to Brazil’s roughly 365,000 people living on the streets.

Call the banker.

· Chico BuarqueThe column uses the phrase as a rhetorical reference to the unfolding dispute.
About this summary

Originally published by Folha de S.Paulo in Portuguese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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