Judge André Mendonça of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) said he ordered the Federal Police to identify people named in reports about Daniel Vorcaro, the former owner of the now defunct Banco Master, in order to establish who belonged to a supposed influence and monitoring network that he ran. The explanation went to the court's president, Edson Fachin, late on Monday (14), on the eve of a session in which the full court begins to review a Federal Police report on messages exchanged between Vorcaro and Justice Alexandre de Moraes. According to CNN Brasil, the filing answers one of the questions Fachin raised about how the Master case investigation has been run.
Mendonça supervises the STF's side of Operation Compliance Zero, the Federal Police inquiry into the Master case. On August 24, he summoned the investigators to his office and gave them 72 hours to update information on members of the supposed criminal organization who had not been identified. A report the police produced at his request surfaced messages and records involving Moraes and Vorcaro and set off the current crisis among the justices. Fachin then set a deadline for Mendonça, Moraes, Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet and Federal Police director-general Andrei Rodrigues to answer questions before the full court reviews the material.
What the filing says
According to the document, reported by CNN Brasil and the portal TMC, material taken from Vorcaro's phone indicated that the man under investigation had advance access to information about ongoing probes that could hurt him, including inquiries at the Central Bank. The data also raised the hypothesis that he sought to intervene with authorities involved in those cases. Mendonça writes that the evidence pointed to a "true network of monitoring and influence" with the potential to infiltrate public institutions, and that, because the police said some members remained unidentified, he gave the investigators 72 hours to provide data on the so-called "influence and monitoring network". The justice argues the order was never meant to investigate Federal Police or prosecutor's office officials.
The filing, recorded in Petição 16.704/DF, also explains why the officers were summoned in person on August 24 at 5:40 p.m. One police report mentioned Rodrigues and Gonet in a note Vorcaro sent to a contact who has not been identified, later forwarded over WhatsApp and reproduced in a police document. Given those mentions, Mendonça wrote, the step was taken as a precaution, to protect the secrecy and the conduct of the investigation, "without imputing any suspicion to anyone". He said the integrity of the case file required compartmentalizing intelligence and judicial police work.
The run-up to the session
The Prosecutor General's office (PGR) formally argues that the police report should be annulled and archived over alleged procedural defects: according to G1, it was produced at Mendonça's request without any trigger from prosecutors or the police and without notice to the court's presidency. Gonet is named in the report, and Federal Police investigators asked him to recuse himself from the inquiry; he is expected to attend the session. Moraes denies favoring Vorcaro and has called the investigation "unconstitutional and illegal".
The full court meets on Tuesday (15) at 10 a.m. in Brasilia for an extraordinary session. Fachin, the case's rapporteur, presents his vote first, after the PGR speaks. One outcome under discussion is to void the report because of its origins and send the data to a new deputy prosecutor general to weigh whether to open a formal investigation. Sources heard by G1 expect a tight 4-3 margin for opening some type of inquiry into the messages; a request for more review time, allowed for 90 days under court rules, would push a final decision to February 2027. Whether Moraes and Mendonça may vote is still open. Justice Dias Toffoli is not expected to vote, having declared himself conflicted in related parts of the Master case.