Michael Brian Davis, an American producer who identifies himself as the majority partner of Go Up Entertainment LLC in the United States, has refused to hand over voluntarily to Brazil's Federal Police records on spending for "Dark Horse", the film biography of former president Jair Bolsonaro. In a September 2 email attached to the case file at the STF, Brazil's Supreme Court, Davis said documents held in the United States will reach Brazilian authorities only on the order of a US judge.
According to G1 and Folha de S.Paulo, the Federal Police sent a formal request on August 19 to producer Karina Ferreira da Gama, Go Up's partner in Brazil, giving her ten days to produce documents voluntarily. The police asked for copies of invoices issued and received abroad, contracts with foreign actors, including Jim Caviezel, who plays Bolsonaro, along with proof of payment, currency-exchange records, tax documents and corporate papers tied to the financing. Karina forwarded the request to Davis on September 2 and asked for help drafting the reply; the producer answered the same day with the refusal.
In the message, published in full by G1, Davis wrote:
"As instructed by our lawyers in the United States, I inform that, in my capacity as majority partner of GOUP Entertainment LLC, I do not authorize the sending to Brazilian authorities or to any third parties of corporate, accounting, tax, banking or contractual documents of the company held in the United States without strict compliance with American due process of law."
Davis also wrote that any request from Brazilian authorities involving documents under US jurisdiction must be made "exclusively through the competent diplomatic channels and international legal cooperation channels, including, where applicable, a letter rogatory or a mutual legal assistance request". In his view, any handover can happen only "by order issued by a US judge". He asked that no company document be shared without prior sign-off from Go Up's American lawyers.
The case so far
The film follows the life of Jair Bolsonaro, whom Folha reports is jailed over an attempted coup. "Dark Horse" drew national attention after the news site Intercept Brasil published messages in which Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president's son and a candidate in Brazil's 2026 presidential election, asks former banker Daniel Vorcaro for money to finance the production. Flávio has been formally under investigation since July in the inquiry led by Justice André Mendonça, which examines transfers of at least US$ 24 million, about 122.7 million reais at the current exchange rate, from Vorcaro to the film. Investigators suspect, according to G1, that part of the money never went into the production. A second inquiry, under Justice Flávio Dino, is examining whether Go Up financed the film with congressional budget earmarks. On Thursday, September 10, the Federal Police executed search warrants against suspects in an earmark diversion scheme, among them Congressman Mario Frias and Karina. The emails became public after Mendonça lifted the seal on case documents on Friday, September 11.
Folha reports that Flávio promised a public accounting of the film's financing but has delegated the release of a balance sheet to Go Up. Flávio and the others named in the inquiry are investigated parties and are presumed innocent.
What comes next
With the voluntary handover refused, the Federal Police can reach the records kept in the United States only through international legal cooperation, the very route Davis pointed to. A mutual legal assistance request or a letter rogatory must go through the US courts before anything is handed over, and no date is set for such a filing. At the Supreme Court, the Mendonça and Dino inquiries remain open, and investigators argue, according to G1, that they still need to trace the origin of the money, how it moved and who the final beneficiaries were.