Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) Justice André Mendonça on Wednesday ratified the plea bargain of businessman Antonio Carlos Freixo Junior, known as Mineiro, in the inquiry into transfers by former banker Daniel Vorcaro to the fund that bankrolled "Dark Horse", a film about former president Jair Bolsonaro. The ruling is under seal, according to news site G1. State news agency Agência Brasil and German broadcaster DW also confirmed the approval.

A plea bargain, or delação premiada, lets someone under investigation trade cooperation for state benefits. Mineiro owns Entre Investimentos, the company identified as making the transfers to the Havengate fund in the United States on orders from Vorcaro, former controller of Banco Master; Agência Brasil describes him as a black-market money dealer. He signed the deal with the Attorney General's Office (PGR) on August 8, after about four months of talks. On Tuesday, he and his lawyers met an auxiliary judge from Mendonça's chambers, who asked whether he had joined voluntarily. He said yes, and voluntariness is one of the requirements for ratifying such agreements.

What the informant claims

In his account, Mineiro was the man who "generated" cash for Vorcaro's team. He says he moved about R$1.3 billion for the banker between 2020 and 2025 and describes deliveries in suitcases holding R$1 million to R$1.5 million, which he says paid bribes. Requests for cash reportedly came from Vorcaro himself, his partner Augusto Lima and later the banker's brother-in-law, Fabiano Zettel. The businessman also claims he made overseas payments through a company based in Nassau, the Bahamas, using invoices sent by Vorcaro, without detailing the recipients.

On the film, the informant says he made seven transfers, booked as "quota subscriptions", to Havengate between January and September 2025, totaling US$12.333 million, about R$62.8 million at the exchange rate of the time. The original plan was to send about US$24 million by January 2026, but only the seven transactions were completed. According to the plea deal, the amounts were requested from Vorcaro by Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, now a presidential candidate. The fund is managed by Paulo Calixto, a lawyer for former congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro in the US; the informant gave the PGR transfer receipts and his email exchanges with Calixto. These are the informant's claims and no court ruling has confirmed them.

Timeline

• January to September 2025: seven transfers to the Havengate fund add up to US$12.333 million, according to the plea deal.
• January 2026: the second phase of Operation Compliance Zero targets asset manager Reag, part of the Banco Master case; the Central Bank orders its liquidation.
• August 8: Mineiro signs the plea deal with the PGR; the collaboration of João Carlos Mansur, owner of Reag, was struck within the same Master case inquiries.
• September 8: a hearing with an auxiliary judge confirms the deal is voluntary.
• September 9: Mendonça ratifies the plea deal, in a ruling kept under seal.

Those named reject the suspicions. Flávio Bolsonaro says all of Vorcaro's money went to the film's production, a position he repeated to Agência Brasil. His office told G1 that information about the financing comes from producer Go Up, which presented the film's accounts. Go Up hired a private audit that in June found the accounts of "Dark Horse", starring Jim Caviezel as Bolsonaro, budgeted at R$75 million and funded by Havengate, to be in order, without releasing the documents. Eduardo Bolsonaro denies receiving money from Vorcaro. The informant's lawyer, Marco Petrelluzzi, declined to comment, citing the secrecy of the proceedings.

With ratification, Mineiro's statements can now be used as evidence. The Federal Police is investigating whether all the money went into the film, as the senator and the producer maintain, or whether part of it paid for Eduardo Bolsonaro's stay in the US, where he has lived since February 2025. No date is set for the next step in the inquiry, which runs under seal. DW notes that Mendonça is under pressure to move the case forward amid an institutional crisis pitting him against fellow Justice Alexandre de Moraes, with fallout involving the PGR and the Federal Police.