The president of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF), Edson Fachin, asked Justice André Mendonça on Monday (14) to lift the secrecy on records detailing the payment network of banker Daniel Vorcaro, former controller of Banco Master who is jailed in Brasília. Mendonça complied the same day and opened access to Petition 15.645, which holds a report on the payments.
Fachin was acting on a request filed on Sunday (13) by Justice Alexandre de Moraes. According to G1, Globo's news portal, Moraes asked for the records to be unsealed before Tuesday's (15) session, which was set to discuss whether the court should investigate his ties to Vorcaro. Fachin sent the request to the Prosecutor General's Office (PGR), which backed the measure, and only then formally asked Mendonça to act.
The PGR opinion was signed by Deputy Prosecutor General Hindenburgo Chateaubriand. He said prosecutors had not weighed in earlier because they did not know the document existed, and supported lifting the secrecy.
"Because it is a document deemed relevant so that a Justice of this Court can grasp the full range of factors involved in the matter to be debated, in line with the premises of the previous opinion, the Prosecutor General's Office understands that the secrecy should also be lifted"
What is now public
The released material includes financial intelligence reports from Coaf, Brazil's financial intelligence council, requested by the Federal Police during the Banco Master investigation. G1 reports that the court has already made 53 case files related to the affair public. According to Poder360, the unsealed petition shows the Federal Police request to investigate the payments and the list of amounts paid by Vorcaro, with particular weight on Fabiano Zettel, the banker's brother-in-law. The deputy prosecutor general also pressed Mendonça's office to explain what steps, if any, were taken in the inquiry.
A court in crisis
The secrecy fight is part of the crisis set off by a Federal Police report that Mendonça ordered based on data extracted from Vorcaro's phone. The document points to a possible relationship between Moraes and the banker. G1 reports that the police found 52 messages exchanged between the two from December 2023 to November 2025, and that the report states Moraes took direct part in reviewing and editing a 130 million reais contract between Banco Master and the Barci de Moraes law firm of Viviane Barci, the justice's wife. The PGR wants the report voided, arguing it was produced without prior notice to the STF presidency, without submission to the full bench and with alleged bias.
At Tuesday's (15) session, the bench debated whether to try Moraes's case together with Mendonça's. The vote was suspended after Justice Flávio Dino asked for more time to review the case, leaving a 4-3 tally in favor of separate trials, according to InfoMoney. The merits remain pending: the justices still must decide whether to uphold or void the police report, and whether there are grounds to open an investigation of Moraes or close the case. Mendonça's case is scheduled for September 23.