Brazil's Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes has asked the court's president, Edson Fachin, to lift the secrecy on one of the inquiries into the Banco Master case. The request was filed on Sunday, September 13, two days before the full bench examines a Federal Police report on messages exchanged between the justice and banker Daniel Vorcaro. Fachin referred the request to the PGR, the federal prosecution service led by Brazil's attorney general.
In his petition, Moraes says that justice André Mendonça, the rapporteur of the Master case, kept part of the investigation under seal. That material contains "essential elements" for Tuesday's judgment, he argues, and should be released to every justice before the session. He wrote:
"The secrecy of PET 15645, assigned to Minister André Mendonça, has not been lifted, and it contains essential elements for the judgment of PET 16662, scheduled for next Tuesday, September 15. I ask Your Excellency to order the lifting of secrecy on PET 15645 and to make the case files available to every member of the panel before that judgment"
What is under seal
According to Folha de S.Paulo, the sealed section covers Master's payment network. The data sit in a financial intelligence report, or RIF, produced by Coaf, the Brazilian government council that tracks suspicious financial activity. The inquiry includes banking and tax records obtained under court order and precautionary measures still in progress. Folha also reported that the Federal Police asked Mendonça in March to give investigators access to the sealed data, a request the rapporteur has yet to rule on.
Fachin's response
Fachin answered in the early evening of Sunday. In an official letter, he asked the PGR to weigh in "promptly" on the request, according to news site g1. The website InfoMoney reported that the court president deferred a final decision: prosecutors will first say whether the petition's content falls within the scope of what the justices are to examine on Tuesday.
The report the justices will review was produced at Mendonça's request and, according to g1, set off an unprecedented crisis at the court. Fachin convened the session last week and on Saturday, September 12, took over the case files concerning Moraes's situation. The PGR has already asked for the report to be shelved, arguing it was produced irregularly, without prior notice to the court's presidency and without review by the full bench.
Over the course of the investigation, the Federal Police recovered 52 messages between Moraes and Vorcaro, sent between December 21, 2023 and November 17, 2025, the day Vorcaro was first arrested. The report says the justice took part directly in reviewing and editing a 130 million reais contract between Banco Master and the Barci de Moraes law firm of Viviane Barci, his wife.
Mendonça opposes a broad release of data before the session. In his view, it could "disrupt" the judgment and harm ongoing investigations, and the material relevant to Tuesday's analysis is already available to the justices. Moraes and the justices Gilmar Mendes and Cristiano Zanin have pressed for full disclosure of the case, according to Folha. On Tuesday the full court will decide whether there are grounds to open an investigation against Moraes. The PGR's opinion on the sealed petition should determine whether it joins the case file for the session or stays out of it.