A possible plea bargain by former banker Daniel Vorcaro, involved in the Banco Master case, could bring up to R$40 billion back to the public coffers over ten years
The information came from the Valor Econômico newspaper and is being analyzed by the Federal Supreme Court.
Minister André Mendonça, who is the rapporteur of the process at the STF, has a lot of experience in negotiations of this type.
He has worked at the Federal Attorney General’s Office, the Federal Comptroller General’s Office and the Ministry of Justice, and participated in leniency agreements during Operation Lava Jato.
Sources close to him say that Mendonça is being very cautious to avoid investigations being canceled in the future, as has already happened in other cases.
He prefers an agreement that guarantees the quick return of the embezzled money, instead of promises of very high amounts paid over many years, as he knows that these amounts can be renegotiated later, as occurred in Lava Jato.
For now, only Vorcaro and his brother-in-law Fabiano Zettel are trying to negotiate a collaboration.
Lawyers for those involved are trying to understand exactly what the Federal Police and the Attorney General’s Office have already discovered before deciding what to reveal.
Among researchers, there is some skepticism about the proposal that will be presented.
They hope that the complaint will bring really new and important information, and not just what has already been discovered.
The amount of R$40 billion raises doubts, because it is not clear where all this money would come from.
There are suspicions that Vorcaro does not control the entire destination of the resources and that part of them may have gone to personal assets whose whereabouts are still unknown.
The case of Banco Master and other institutions linked to the group has already caused losses of almost R$60 billion to the Credit Guarantee Fund over the last 30 years.
Vorcaro’s defense says that the accusation will be “serious”, but expectations of bombshell revelations involving politicians, businesspeople and even STF ministers are low.
If the agreement progresses, Mendon̤a will check whether the information is new, coherent and true Рthe same criteria will apply to other potential collaborators.
Vorcaro and Zettel’s defenses are working to align the reports and strengthen the versions.
Vorcaro signed the confidentiality agreement on March 19, formally beginning negotiations.
The annexes to the statement are being prepared and, afterwards, the proposal will be sent for evaluation by the minister.
At the STF, the way Mendonça has handled the case does not please everyone.
He received criticism for allegedly not having well-founded preventive arrests, which raised questions about the legality of the measures.
Recently, Minister Alexandre de Moraes resumed a PT action from 2021, which calls for limits on the use of plea bargains.
The case also involves other names in the Judiciary.
The newspaper O Globo revealed that Moraes’ wife signed a contract worth R$129 million to defend Banco Master.
Furthermore, Moraes would have spoken to Vorcaro on the day of the banker’s first arrest.
Minister Dias Toffoli even sold part of a company to Zettel and, as a result, left the case as rapporteur, being replaced by Mendonça.
Both Moraes and Toffoli denied any wrongdoing.
Behind the scenes, Mendonça has signaled that the investigation will not spare anyone, including authorities and ministers, as long as there is consistent evidence.
He also had friction with the Attorney General of the Republic, Paulo Gonet, over Vorcaro’s arrest.
The case remains ongoing, and Vorcaro’s possible indictment is seen as an opportunity to recover part of the misappropriated resources, following a model similar to Lava Jato, but with special attention to avoiding past mistakes.
Published in 04/14/2026 01h37
Text adapted by AI (Grok) and translated via Google API in the English version. Images from public image libraries or credits in the caption.
Reference article: