Brazil's Federal Police found on the phone of banker Daniel Vorcaro a draft contract, dated March 2024, that set payments of up to R$ 427 million from Banco Master to the law firm Queiroga, Vieira, Queiroz & Ramos, owned by lawyer Camilla Ramos, the wife of Newton Ramos, a federal appellate judge on the TRF-1, the court that reviews federal cases from most of northern Brazil. The investigation was first reported by Metrópoles on Monday and confirmed by g1, Globo's news portal.
The contract covered the firm's work on lawsuits tied to precatórios, court-ordered federal debt payments, in the sugar and ethanol industry. Fees were set at 5% net of the amount recovered by the bank in each case. According to g1, the lawsuits totaled R$ 8.5 billion, which means a full win could have yielded R$ 427 million in fees. The document is a draft; the reports do not say whether the contract was executed.
Messages with the judge
After the draft was drawn up, Vorcaro messaged Newton to remind him of a court ruling "on the 4th [of December]" that mattered to the bank, and the judge replied "lembrei" and "tudo certo", Portuguese for "I remembered" and "all set", the report says. On June 3, 2025, police identified a message from Camilla to the banker celebrating a win by sugar mills at the Supreme Federal Court (STF), praising a vote by Justice Kassio Nunes Marques, and trying to arrange a meeting with the judge to "talk quickly".
"Grande vitória hoje para as Usinas na 2a Turma do STF! Placar 3x2 a favor das Usinas, para não aplicar o Tema 826. E um excelente voto do Min Nunes Marques fazendo a distinção dos casos em que o título judicial trouxe os critérios da indenização", wrote Camilla Ramos. In English: "Big win today for the mills in the STF's second chamber! Score 3-2 for the mills, keeping Thema 826 from applying. And an excellent vote by Justice Nunes Marques drawing the line between cases where the court order itself set the damages criteria."
The investigation points to Camilla and Newton as members of the "Turma KN", the label used by Vorcaro's staff for people linked to Nunes Marques, whose initials KN supposedly stand for. On February 20, 2025, Vorcaro's travel operator told him that the "turma do KN/Newton" had sent six names to join a Rio de Janeiro Carnival box paid for by the banker. The messages also indicate that Newton's 2025 Carnival, including stays at Fasano hotels in Salvador and Rio, was organized and paid for by Vorcaro. In May 2025, days before antitrust regulator Cade approved the sale of Master to Banco Regional de Brasília (BRB), an assistant relayed a request from the judge for a "promotional rate" for Justice Nunes Marques at the Fasano hotel. "Pode pegar e colocar na minha conta", Vorcaro replied, meaning "go ahead and put it on my account". On other occasions, the judge asked the banker for tickets to a concert at a São Paulo hotel and for Formula 1.
Defense and next steps
Nunes Marques said in a statement that he "never authorized anyone to speak on his behalf". The g1 report carries no defense note from Judge Newton Ramos, from Camilla Ramos or from the law firm. No one named has been convicted; the messages are part of an ongoing police investigation, and everyone mentioned so far is only investigated or cited in seized conversations.
For readers new to the case: Banco Master bought the right to collect precatórios in 2023, through investment funds run by companies now under investigation in Operação Compliance Zero. The suspicion is that some of the payments were issued before the lawsuits had fully run their course, while the federal government could still appeal. Vorcaro's messages have fueled a crisis at the STF: on September 15, the court began reviewing a report containing the banker's conversations with Justice Alexandre de Moraes, and Nunes Marques, who chairs the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), recused himself from that session over concerns about electoral fallout. According to Folha de S.Paulo, the recusal came after messages cited payments to his son, lawyer Kevin Marques, and the justice is considering rejoining the Master rulings after the October elections, with no date set yet.