A businessman who told prosecutors he carried bags of cash for Daniel Vorcaro, the former controlling owner of Banco Master, was logged entering Brazil's presidential palace, the Palácio do Planalto, on January 23, 2024. The record comes from the palace gate logs, obtained by columnist Andreza Matais of the news site Metrópoles through Brazil's freedom of information law. In a plea deal signed with the Attorney General's Office (PGR), the businessman, Antônio Carlos Freixo Júnior, known as Mineiro, described himself as Vorcaro's "homem da mala", or bagman.
The entry was registered at 2:42 p.m. on a Tuesday. According to Metrópoles, it was Freixo's only recorded visit to the palace between January 2022 and March 2025, the period covered by the logs. His name does not appear on the official schedule of any official based in the building.
What the plea deal says
Freixo told the PGR he converted amounts into cash and delivered them in bags holding between 1 million and 1.5 million reais to recipients chosen by Vorcaro. He says he moved about 1.3 billion reais in this activity between 2020 and 2025, and said he understood part of the money paid commissions and undue advantages. Metrópoles reports he also claimed to have videos of the cash deliveries.
Freixo owns Entre Investimentos, the company Vorcaro used to channel at least 14 million US dollars, about 72 million reais at the time, into Dark Horse, a film biography of Jair Bolsonaro. The money left Banco Master, passed through Freixo's company and reached the Havengate Development Fund, set up in the state of Texas and run by lawyer Paulo Calixto, an ally of former congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro.
Metrópoles said it sought comment from the presidential communications office and from Freixo himself. Neither had responded by publication time.
Pending decision
The plea deal was signed with the PGR in August and sent to Supreme Court Justice André Mendonça, who has yet to decide whether to ratify it. Metrópoles reports that an auxiliary judge from his chamber is expected to hear Freixo on Tuesday, September 8, to check whether he entered the deal voluntarily, a standard step in such agreements. It is the second plea deal in the Master case, a scandal that has convulsed the Supreme Court in recent weeks. The first was signed by João Carlos Mansur, former owner of asset manager Reag, who according to news site O Antagonista said he has information on about 20 billion reais in hidden assets in Brazil.