The Brasilia chapter of the Brazilian Bar Association, OAB-DF, opened an ethics disciplinary proceeding on Tuesday, September 8, against the five partners of the Barci de Moraes law firm, owned by the wife and children of Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Chapter president Paulo Mauricio Siqueira, known as Poli, ordered the case and announced it at an extraordinary session of the full council.
The session had been called to discuss the crisis surrounding the Supreme Court, Metropoles reported. The chapter said the case rests on "facts recently made public and contained in a Federal Police report." Folha de S.Paulo identified the document as the report of inquiry IPJ-A 3298613/2026, built from data on the phone of Daniel Vorcaro, former owner of Banco Master.
According to the bar's national register, the firm's partners are Viviane Barci de Moraes, the justice's wife, Giuliana and Alexandre Barci de Moraes, the couple's children, Ana Claudia Consani de Moraes, his sister-in-law, and Fernanda Ghiuro Valentini Fritoli. All five will be summoned to answer the case.
What is at stake
The chapter's ethics tribunal will examine possible violations of the bar's code of ethics and professional statute. Conduct under possible review, according to Metropoles, includes conflicts of interest, improper solicitation of clients, conduct incompatible with the dignity of the profession and any use of the firm's structure for illegal practices.
Penalties range from fines to suspension. The most severe is exclusion, the cancellation of a lawyer's license, which requires a two-thirds vote of the chapter's full council, G1 reported.
"The practice of law is not a means for committing crimes"
Poli set out the chapter's position at Tuesday's session. "The practice of law is not a means for committing crimes. And the OAB-DF, in the case of this firm, registered in our house, we have the duty to investigate these facts," he said.
The firm responded with a statement. "The Barci de Moraes firm regrets that matters already reviewed and dismissed by the Prosecutor General's Office (PGR) are being used in an electoral context at the OAB/DF. It hopes that the entity's president, Paulo Mauricio Braz Siqueira, will revise his statements and provide the necessary clarifications, avoiding the adoption of appropriate measures."
The OAB-DF will also open a proceeding against lawyer Ciro Soares, identified in the Federal Police report as the go-between for communication between Vorcaro and Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet. Justice Andre Mendonca, who oversees the Banco Master case at the Supreme Court, made the report public on September 1, igniting a crisis inside the court. According to G1, the report reconstructs only the messages Vorcaro sent to a contact saved as "Alexandre de Moraes BRASILIA", including the discussion of two contracts with Viviane Barci and his claim of a "life debt" to the justice. There is no record of what was received in reply.
Both cases will proceed under seal and have no deadline for a ruling. The OAB-DF said the proceeding will "observe all constitutional guarantees of due process" and involves "no advance judgment of guilt". The next step is the formal summons of the five partners to present their defense.