Justice Flávio Dino of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) asked the court's president, Edson Fachin, on Tuesday (Sept. 15) to investigate a possible link between Banco Master, an institute founded by fellow Justice André Mendonça and contracts signed by the city of São Paulo. According to g1, the request came on the same day the court's full bench is reviewing a Federal Police report on messages between Justice Alexandre de Moraes and former banker Daniel Vorcaro, the central figure of the so-called Caso Master, and voting on whether to open an investigation against Moraes.

Dino filed the request in a case about rules for private cemeteries in São Paulo state. The case is tied to an inquiry by São Paulo state prosecutors into alleged irregularities in the cemetery concession and a possible connection between the operator, Cortel, and Banco Master. According to CNN Brasil, Dino ordered a copy of the case records sent to Fachin and asked him to weigh the new material in the review of Mendonça's conduct. In Dino's view, the information points to possible conflicts of interest.

What Dino listed

In the ruling, Dino lists circumstances he says need to be clarified. The first is Mendonça's own vote in the cemetery case: when the trial resumed in April 2025, he voted against keeping an injunction that affected private cemeteries, aligning himself with the companies' requests. Dino also notes that Alexandre de Almeida Mendonça, the justice's brother, works at SP Regula, the agency that regulates public services in São Paulo, specifically in the funeral and cemetery division.

The ruling also points to a meeting between André Mendonça and Vorcaro, former owner of the now-defunct Banco Master. According to the ruling, the meeting took place on March 14, 2025, at the headquarters of Instituto Iter, a body Mendonça founded. In Dino's reading, the meeting matters because the institute went on to hold paid contracts with the city of São Paulo, a direct party in the cemetery case. The document also names Fabiano Zettel, Vorcaro's brother-in-law, who is under investigation in Operação Compliance Zero and worked at Cortel. Dino says the institute signed, without a bidding process, a contract of about 1.63 million reais with the Fundação para o Desenvolvimento da Educação (FDE), an education foundation tied to the São Paulo state government.

Mendonça said on Sept. 3 that he had decided to leave his stake in the institute, created in 2024 for educational and academic work. Dino's ruling does not state that the facts prove wrongdoing or favoritism by the justice. Its stated goal is to establish whether there is any connection between the meeting with Vorcaro, the institute, its contracts and Mendonça's conduct in the cemetery case.

The file now sits with Fachin, who must decide whether to fold the material into the review of Mendonça's conduct. The same day, the full court is deciding whether to open an investigation into Moraes over the Vorcaro messages. Fachin votes first, under the session rules set by the court.