Justice André Mendonça of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) on Monday (14) lifted the secrecy on a case file detailing the payment network tied to former Banco Master owner Daniel Vorcaro, who is under Federal Police investigation. The decision granted a request by Chief Justice Edson Fachin, filed hours earlier after an application from Justice Alexandre de Moraes and the Prosecutor General's Office (PGR), on the eve of a session in which the full bench will consider opening an investigation into Moraes.

The file exposed a standoff that has run through the inquiry since March. According to CNN Brasil, which reviewed the records, the Federal Police asked Coaf, Brazil's financial intelligence council, for the financial intelligence reports on the investigated parties to track possible illicit money flows by Vorcaro. Coaf released only part of the material: having identified payments to people who would hold privileged jurisdiction, a standing that sends their cases to higher courts, it said those entries could be shared only with express authorization from the Supreme Court. The police then asked Mendonça for that authorization. According to O Globo, the request has waited six months, and the file carries no ruling by the justice. The name of the official who received money therefore remains sealed.

CartaCapital reports that the intelligence report mentions at least 303 individuals and 520 companies, and points to possible recipients with privileged standing before the Superior Court of Justice and the STF itself. The police argued to Mendonça's office that full release is indispensable to avoid gaps in the financial tracing and to prevent any risk of procedural nullity.

What the documents show

Among the highlights of the Coaf report delivered to the police is the movement of more than R$ 57 million by the Lagoinha Baptist Church between December 2024 and December 2025. The church, according to CNN Brasil, faced scrutiny in the congressional inquiry into the INSS pension agency and suspicion of diverted congressional earmarks. Vorcaro's brother-in-law, Fabiano Zettel, worked as a pastor at the church and transferred R$ 19.2 million to the institution in the period analyzed. CartaCapital adds that other suspect transfers totaled R$ 28 million sent straight to the church's account, whose presumed annual revenue was R$ 950,000. The outlet said it sought comment from the church and received no reply by publication time.

How the case got here

The Master investigation led the Federal Police to seize Vorcaro's phone, an iPhone 17 Pro, and a police report pointed to messages exchanged between the former banker and Justice Moraes, setting off a dispute inside the court over full access to the data. Key steps:

• March 2026: the Federal Police asks Mendonça to authorize Coaf to share payments made to an official with privileged jurisdiction, according to O Globo and the site Cláudio Dantas; the request still has no ruling.
• Sunday (13): Moraes asks that the secrecy on all Master case filings be lifted and that the records be released to every justice before Tuesday's session.
• Monday (14): Fachin grants Moraes and the PGR and asks Mendonça to lift the secrecy; the Federal Police delivers copies of Vorcaro's phone data to the offices of Moraes, Cristiano Zanin and Gilmar Mendes; Mendonça unseals the payments file.
• Tuesday (15): the STF full bench reviews the police report on the messages between Vorcaro and Moraes and decides whether to open an investigation into the justice.

In the dispute over access, Moraes said the file contains "essential elements" for the session and stated that "it is not for the rapporteur justice to choose which documents the full bench may access to reach its ruling". Gilmar Mendes argued that holding the data in one chamber hurts the court's internal balance and parity. Mendonça has said he had already lifted the secrecy on all the information, and explained that he keeps an encrypted, sealed backup copy, as a safeguard, which he has never handled.

The PGR, which backed disclosure, said it did not even know these files existed in the court's system, according to CartaCapital. Vorcaro remains an investigated party in the Master case.

The next step is the full bench session on Tuesday (15). The March request for the full handover of Coaf data has no date for a decision.