Brazil's Federal Police found, among the files extracted from the phone of Daniel Vorcaro, the former owner of Banco Master who is under investigation in the case, a photograph of Paulo Gonet, the prosecutor general of the Republic, holding a cigar while seated beside the former banker at an event in London. The newspaper O Globo published the image on Saturday (19), the news portal G1 reported it, and the Prosecutor General's Office (PGR, Brazil's top federal prosecution body) confirmed that it is authentic. Within hours, opposition politicians began calling for Gonet to be removed from office.

According to G1, the photo reached Vorcaro's phone on June 19, 2025. It was sent by lawyer Ciro Soares, a former Banco Master defense attorney, with the message "PG me mandou" ("PG sent it to me"), the initials of Paulo Gonet. The image shows the prosecutor seated near Vorcaro and two other men, with whisky glasses on two tables. CNN Brasil reported that the event took place in April 2024, the same meeting Gonet cited when he appeared before the Supreme Federal Court (STF) on September 15. The message log published by G1 also records arrangements for a trip to London with Gonet and his son in March and April 2025.

In a statement to G1, the PGR said Gonet has already publicly acknowledged attending the event, which was organized by Vorcaro and attended by several other authorities, and noted that Justice André Mendonça, who oversees the Master case investigations at the STF, has described the references to the prosecutor general in the messages as nothing serious. Gonet, who is mentioned in the Federal Police report, argues the document is void: in the PGR's reading, it was produced at Mendonça's request without a prior requisition by the PGR or the police, and an investigation would require prior authorization by the court's full bench. In the September 15 session, he said he had no close relationship with Vorcaro and that their only connection was "brevíssima e banal" (extremely brief and banal).

Timeline of the case

• April 2024: in messages to Vorcaro, Ciro Soares writes that "Gonet é firme" ("Gonet is solid"); according to the messages, Gonet would have helped secure the election of Jarbas Soares Júnior to lead the national council of prosecutors general (CNPG).
• March 2025: after a message saying "Ele quer falar com você" ("He wants to talk to you"), forensic records show four consecutive calls between Vorcaro and Ciro, which the PF reads as the banker speaking with Gonet on the lawyer's phone; days later Ciro passes along messages attributed to the prosecutor, such as "Oba!!! Tomara que tenha charuto e macalan!" (a reference to The Macallan whisky), and arranges the London trip for Gonet and his son, with expenses approved by Vorcaro.
• September 1: Mendonça makes a Federal Police report public, with messages from Vorcaro's phone that also mention Justice Alexandre de Moraes, and asks STF President Edson Fachin to take the case to the full bench.
• September 15: the full bench begins to review the case; Gonet denies any closeness with the banker, and Justice Flávio Dino suspends the session with a request for more time to study the records.
• September 19: O Globo publishes the photo of Gonet and Vorcaro in London; the opposition demands the prosecutor's removal.

Opposition pressure

The release of the image opened a new front of pressure. On Saturday, congressman and presidential candidate Nikolas Ferreira of the PL party filed a petition with STF President Edson Fachin asking the court to consider the precautionary removal of Gonet. In his filing, Nikolas argues that the photo, the messages and the references to the prosecutor general and to family members in the investigation material justify examining a possible conflict of interest, and asks Fachin to refer the matter to the court's competent body and to the full bench. Candidate Romeu Zema of the Novo party called for Gonet to resign and linked the crisis to the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who appointed him. Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) posted the photo on social media and said those involved were "rindo da cara do povo sofrido" (laughing in the face of the suffering people).

The next steps sit with the STF. The full-bench review that began on September 15 has been suspended since Justice Flávio Dino's pedido de vista, and no date is set for its resumption. Nikolas's petition awaits Fachin's decision on how to route it. CNN Brasil said it had contacted the PGR for comment on the photo and that the office had not yet responded.