Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino has ordered that information gathered by the São Paulo state police on the production company behind the film Dark Horse be shared with the Federal Police, according to a report published by the Correio Braziliense newspaper on Tuesday, August 25. The decision opens a new investigative front within the federal agency, which is already probing the case under a separate inquiry.
The film, a biography of former president Jair Bolsonaro, was financed by Daniel Vorcaro, the former owner of Banco Master who is currently in custody. In June, São Paulo's civil police carried out an operation against Karina Ferreira Gama, owner of Go Up Entertainment, the company that produced the film. The raids also targeted the Instituto Conhecer Brasil (ICB), another company owned by Gama that holds R$ 108 million (roughly $22 million) in contracts with the São Paulo city government.
According to the Correio Braziliense, the São Paulo operation focused on tracing parliamentary earmarks, known in Brazil as "emendas parlamentares" (funds individual lawmakers direct to specific projects), sent by federal deputy Mário Frias of the PL party to the production company. Investigators found Frias funneled R$ 2 million to Gama's group in 2024. The raids seized documents, phones and computers that could now feed the Federal Police's own investigation, which remains under seal at the Supreme Court.
Two separate probes
The state and federal police are pursuing distinct lines of inquiry, the newspaper reported. The Federal Police is trying to determine whether money laundering occurred in the funds sent for the film and whether part of that money helped keep ousted federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro in the United States. Separately, the funds spent on the production and their ties to Banco Master are being investigated under a different inquiry overseen by Supreme Court Justice André Mendonça, which also examines the potential involvement of PL presidential pre-candidate and senator Flávio Bolsonaro.
The investigation into the production company began after Dino, who oversees Supreme Court cases on the traceability and transparency of parliamentary earmarks, asked Brazil's federal comptroller general (CGU) to examine funds sent by deputies Mário Frias, Marcos Pollon of PL-MS and Bia Kicis of PL-DF to the ICB and to the Academia Nacional de Cultura. The Correio Braziliense reported that investigators have privately complained about delays by Mendonça in authorizing procedures requested in the inquiry under his watch.
The case drew national attention in May when leaked conversations between Flávio Bolsonaro and Vorcaro showed the senator pressing the banker to pay the R$ 134 million he had promised toward producing Dark Horse, of which R$ 61 million was reportedly transferred, according to the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper. After the leak, Flávio said publicly he was "100% willing" to release the film's contract with Vorcaro, but as of the Folha's Tuesday report, the document had not been made public.