Justice André Mendonça of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF), the country's top court, sent its president, Edson Fachin, an explanation on Monday (Sept. 14) for his Aug. 24 decision to personally summon Federal Police investigators to identify the recipients of messages sent by former banker Daniel Vorcaro. The report produced after the request identified Justice Alexandre de Moraes as one of Vorcaro's contacts. The filing came hours before Tuesday's session (Sept. 15), the first in the court's history in which the justices meet to decide whether to open an investigation into one of their own. The explanation met a deadline Fachin set for Mendonça, Moraes, Attorney General Paulo Gonet and Federal Police chief Andrei Rodrigues to provide information before the judgment.
In the filing, Mendonça says he acted "out of caution", seeking "to preserve the integrity of the case records and the efficiency of the investigations", "without imputing any suspicion to anyone". According to him, the conversations mentioned Gonet and Rodrigues, which in his reading demanded even greater care with secrecy. He also argues that he requested the identifications to clarify what he called a "true network of monitoring and influence coordinated by the investigated party, with potential infiltration into the highest levels of several institutions of the Republic". According to Folha de S.Paulo, he told Fachin he broke no rules and said the Federal Police handed him the material in person in August.
Gonet had asked on Sept. 1 that Mendonça declare void the decision that led the police to produce the report. In the view of the Attorney General's Office, the inquiry "exceeded the limits of the judge's competence" in the pre-trial phase, and the court's full bench itself should decide on any investigation of one of its members. Moraes answered on Monday with a 44-page brief divided into 121 points. According to BBC News Brasil, he calls the case a "farce" and speaks of "revenge" with political and electoral motives. He also writes that the coup attempt "did not end on January 8, 2023" and that the Supreme Court "will know how to resist".
"Despite the staged farce that has been publicized, there is absolutely nothing, and everyone knows the political-electoral motivation behind these criminal lies. REVENGE", wrote Moraes, who denies any wrongdoing and says he never favored Vorcaro.
How the case got here
Vorcaro, former controller of Banco Master, was arrested in November 2025 in the Compliance Zero operation and is under investigation for suspected financial fraud estimated at 12.2 billion reais. He was released at one point and detained again in March. Mendonça was reporting the bank fraud inquiry at the court when, on Sept. 1, he lifted the secrecy of documents and made public messages linking Moraes to Vorcaro, paving the way for petition 16,662, now before the justices. According to G1, the police report lists 52 messages exchanged between Moraes and the former banker. The exchanges show Vorcaro pressing for special attention to payments under a 131-million-real contract between the bank and the Barci de Moraes law firm, run by Moraes's wife, Viviane Barci de Moraes, including a transfer of 3.42 million reais documented in February 2024. No investigation against Moraes has been opened so far, and Tuesday's session decides precisely whether one will be authorized.
Tuesday's unprecedented session
Opening the session, Fachin made an institutional appeal. "This institution does not belong to us. We have the duty to preserve it in the present", he said, before reading the Attorney General's filing and stating that "it is up to the plenary of the Supreme Federal Court to investigate its members". Two justices left the judging panel: Kassio Nunes Marques declared himself barred from voting because he chairs the Superior Electoral Court weeks before the elections, and said he never exchanged messages with Vorcaro and that his son never provided services to the bank; Dias Toffoli declared himself conflicted for reasons of foro íntimo, a personal conviction, and said he will stay in the session and may take the floor. Gilmar Mendes raised a point of order to debate, before the vote, a filing in which Justice Flávio Dino asks Fachin to investigate links between Banco Master and an institute tied to Mendonça.
After Fachin reads his report, the justices are expected to vote on whether to authorize an investigation of Moraes. Fachin signaled to colleagues his intent to finish the judgment on Tuesday itself, but Moraes's allies do not rule out requesting vista, a postponement for further review, according to columnist Valdo Cruz at G1. The session comes 19 days before the first round of Brazil's general elections, and the case has entered the presidential campaign: Flávio Bolsonaro, Ronaldo Caiado and Romeu Zema commented on the judgment during the morning, according to G1.