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🇵🇦 Panama /Economy & Trade

Who is Brazil’s jailed banker with ‘friends in every branch of power’?

From TVN Panamá · () Spanish

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

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Under investigation
  • Daniel Vorcaro, the jailed owner of collapsed Banco Master, faces fraud allegations after the bank left more than $7 billion in debt and hundreds of thousands of people affected.
  • Investigations have linked Vorcaro to politicians across the spectrum and to Supreme Court figures, including messages to Justice Alexandre de Moraes and a case involving Justice José Dias Toffoli’s associates.
  • The disclosures have created a major crisis around Brazil’s Supreme Court as the country approaches October’s presidential election.

Daniel Vorcaro built influence well beyond Brazil’s financial district before ending up in prison. The 42-year-old operator from São Paulo’s Faria Lima district owned Banco Master, whose collapse left more than $7 billion in debt and affected hundreds of thousands of people. A guarantee system compensated those affected.

Vorcaro also invested in real estate, pharmaceuticals, textiles and football. He held a stake in Atlético Mineiro, the club from his birthplace, Belo Horizonte. His contacts reached politicians from opposing camps, judges and senior officials. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva acknowledged meeting him, while Lula’s rival in October’s presidential election, conservative Flávio Bolsonaro, said he had asked Vorcaro for money to finance a biopic about his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro.

A new investigation this week linked Vorcaro to a powerful Supreme Court justice whom he allegedly approached for help with his legal problems. Vorcaro has been held in Brasília since March. Investigators say he boasted of having “friends in every branch of power.”

Do I already have to be out on Monday?

· Daniel VorcaroHe sent the message to a phone attributed to Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes before his first arrest.

Vorcaro was first arrested in November as he prepared to board a private jet in São Paulo, but he was released on bail. In the days before that arrest, he sent about 30 messages to a phone attributed to Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who led the trial that ended with Jair Bolsonaro’s conviction for an attempted coup. “Do I already have to be out on Monday?” Vorcaro asked in one message, according to a police report released Tuesday. He also asked about investigations and arranged meetings. The report does not disclose the other person’s replies.

The Supreme Court had already faced another controversy involving Vorcaro. Justice José Dias Toffoli, who was handling the Banco Master case, was removed after ties to the banker’s circle emerged. Vorcaro’s brother-in-law and right-hand man, also under investigation, allegedly bought part of a resort from Toffoli’s brothers in 2021 through an asset manager under scrutiny in the Banco Master case. Toffoli denied wrongdoing. Vorcaro also held an unscheduled meeting with Lula in December 2024, which the president acknowledged. Senator Jaques Wagner, a Lula ally, is being investigated over suspicions that he received $1 million in money and benefits to defend the failed bank’s interests in Congress.

Friends in every branch of power.

· Daniel VorcaroThe banker allegedly used the phrase while speaking to investigators about his political and institutional contacts.
About this summary

Originally published by TVN Panamá in Spanish. 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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