Executives at Banco Master described lawyer Dalide Corrêa, who received R$ 33 million from the bank, as a "partner" of Justice Gilmar Mendes of Brazil's Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF). The reference appears in December 2024 messages exchanged with former banker Daniel Vorcaro, whose cell phone was seized by the Federal Police. The exchanges were obtained by columnist Malu Gaspar of the newspaper O Globo, and the case was reported on Saturday (19) by Folha de S.Paulo. The justice's office says the claim is false.

In the exchange, the bank's then legal director, Luiz Rennó, pressed Vorcaro to release a R$ 15 million invoice owed to the lawyer, who was demanding overdue payments. The initials "GM" in the message refer to Gilmar, the court's longest-serving justice.

"Hey, friend! That payment is for Dalide! Those precatórios! She is a partner of GM from the STF! Her partner Leandro is very tricky and they work with BTG. Approve that one," Rennó wrote, according to exchanges obtained by the Federal Police.

According to the column, the supposed closeness to the justice was not the only factor. The message also cites the lawyer's work with BTG Pactual, the investment bank that Vorcaro saw as his main rival.

Timeline of the case

According to O Globo, Dalide worked in favor of Vorcaro's interests in the market for precatórios, court-ordered debt payments that Brazilian governments owe after losing lawsuits. The sugar and ethanol industry disputes before the STF stem from mill owners' claims for compensation over price controls imposed by the federal government in the 1980s and 1990s, litigation worth billions that has dragged on for more than three decades. Key dates:

• Until November 2016: Dalide served as director general of IDP, a private law school in Brasília founded by Gilmar and now run by one of his sons, a post she held for about nine years by her own account.
• April 2024: Gilmar received Vorcaro and Master lawyers in his STF office to discuss a case involving a precatório from the Alcídia mill, according to information provided by the justice's own office. He voted against the bank's interests.
• August 27, 2024: Rennó pressed Vorcaro for urgent approval of Dalide's R$ 15 million invoice, citing "an important victory in the Catende case", a mill in Pernambuco state.
• December 2024: in a new round of demands, Rennó called the lawyer a "partner of GM from the STF".
• September 2026: O Globo's column publishes the exchanges; Gilmar and Dalide deny any partnership.

What each side says

In a statement, Gilmar's office called the association made by the Master executives false and said the justice never had any partnership with Dalide, at IDP or any other company. The office said she held a "technical post" as director general of the institute and left in November 2016. It also said Gilmar "has no knowledge" of her work on cases involving sugar and ethanol precatórios, and that he voted against payment in every such case he judged, in line with the federal government's position: "In none of them was the vote favorable to the interests of Banco Master".

Dalide denied any partnership with Gilmar and any ownership stake in IDP, and said she has no ties to BTG. Her office said she worked on cases first filed by companies that sold credits to Master and were later succeeded in the lawsuits by the bank. Gilmar told Folha he has no personal or professional relationship with her and considers her a former employee. The O Globo column, however, found that the two remain close to this day.

The R$ 33 million paid to Dalide's firm was detected by an internal audit at BRB, the state-controlled bank of Brasília that tried to buy Master, according to the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo. The Federal Police also found messages in which executive Alberto Félix calls the lawyer a "direct channel to the STF". No one has been convicted, and the exchanges are part of the material from Vorcaro's seized phone under review in the Master investigation. According to G1, Justices André Mendonça and Fux told the Federal Police, in official letters, that they cannot access the full copy of the phone and asked for technical help. No date is set for the next steps.