Once again, organized crime and its allies in the financial system are showing their true colors: a network of corruption, sham transactions, and the blatant use of “front men” to divert billions, harming honest investors and the Brazilian financial system
The Federal Police, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, and the Supreme Federal Court itself are thoroughly investigating Banco Master, controlled by businessman Daniel Vorcaro, and what is coming to light is appalling.
In the second phase of Operation Compliance Zero, launched in January 2026, authorities discovered strong evidence that the bank set up a sophisticated criminal scheme to manipulate the market, inflate assets without real value, and launder money for its own benefit and that of its family.
The trick was simple and perverse: Banco Master raised money from the market by issuing Certificates of Deposit (CDBs) with high and attractive returns, and then directed these resources to investment funds in which the bank itself was the sole shareholder.
These funds purchased commercial notes and credit rights issued by shell companies-many of them controlled by “straw men,” that is, people without assets or financial capacity to justify multimillion-dollar transactions.
A scandalous example: A simple medical clinic, which bills just over R$ 450,000 per year, issued R$ 361 million in commercial notes without any real guarantee.
The person responsible for the company has no compatible assets and even received emergency aid during the pandemic.
This is not business, it’s blatant fraud.
In total, Master invested more than R$ 3.5 billion in these suspicious funds, with R$ 1.8 billion directed precisely to securities issued by companies linked to the partners themselves.
In just two months, between April and May 2024, approximately R$ 1.45 billion was moved in operations that quickly returned to the bank through redemptions and transfers between funds such as Astralo 95, Reag Growth 95, and Termópilas-many of them reaching companies belonging to Vorcaro’s relatives, such as Super Empreendimentos e Participações, owned by the banker’s brother-in-law, which was even used to buy a R$ 36 million mansion in BrasÃlia with money from the bank itself.
The Federal Police have no doubt: there is a criminal organization dedicated to fraudulent management, market manipulation, insider trading, misleading investors, and money laundering.
All this by exploiting loopholes in the capital market and lax oversight-the same kind of lax oversight that the left loves when in power.
And it doesn’t stop there.
Businessman Nelson Tanure has also come under scrutiny, suspected of being a “hidden partner” and beneficiary of millions in CDBs (Certificates of Deposit) through front companies.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian people-who trusted the financial system and saw public banks like Banco do Brasil and Caixa Econômica Federal having to inject billions into the Credit Guarantee Fund to cover part of the deficit-are footing the bill.
Haddad may even call it the “biggest fraud in history,” but what’s truly shocking is how these schemes flourish precisely during periods of PT (Workers’ Party) government, with high-profile consultants of the caliber of Guido Mantega, Henrique Meirelles, and even Ricardo Lewandowski passing through the bank, and meetings scheduled with President Lula himself.
Brazil can no longer tolerate this institutionalized thievery.
A rigorous investigation, exemplary punishment, and an end to this culture of impunity that only benefits the usual suspects are necessary.
The workers’ money cannot continue to be diverted by this criminal merry-go-round of front men, phantom funds, and bankers friendly to those in power.
Enough of this complicity!
Published in 01/17/2026 06h50
Text adapted by AI (Grok) and translated via Google API in the English version. Images from public image libraries or credits in the caption.
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