Justice Dias Toffoli ordered the Master bank case moved to Brazil's Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) one day after the Federal Police reported finding no evidence of crimes by officials entitled to foro privilegiado, the special jurisdiction that routes cases involving senior officeholders to higher courts. The sequence emerged from case files that Justice André Mendonça, the current rapporteur, unsealed on Thursday night (Sept 10). CNN Brasil and Valor Econômico reported the details on Friday (11).
The timeline in the case files
The Federal Police memo is dated December 2, 2025. The force said it had sifted through the evidence gathered in the inquiry into Operation Compliance Zero and the bank controlled by financier Daniel Vorcaro, including cell phones and electronic devices, and that the criminal theory at that point covered only financial crimes.
"To date, after a thorough screening of the collected evidence, including cell phones and electronic equipment, no evidence whatsoever has been found of crimes committed by politically exposed persons or authorities with prerogative of forum, and the criminal hypothesis remains unchanged, limited to investigating financial crimes," the Federal Police wrote.
According to CNN Brasil, the next day, December 3, Toffoli ordered the entire case sent to the STF and taken away from lower courts, under his own rapporteurship. He justified the move as a way to "avoid leaks that could harm the investigations". Valor Econômico dates to December 9 the decision that consolidated all Compliance Zero and Master proceedings at the court. The newspaper says the stated reason was a possible connection to federal deputy João Carlos Bacelar (PL-BA), after the police found a document mentioning the lawmaker at Vorcaro's home.
In the police assessment, that document was an unsigned draft for a property sale between Bacelar and Vorcaro, a deal that never closed and held "no interest whatsoever for the investigation". Days before the ruling, according to Valor, lawyers for Vorcaro and other suspects had asked Toffoli to send the case to the STF. The reasoning the minister adopted matched the defense argument.
CNN Brasil adds another entry to the timeline. Toffoli had been drawn as rapporteur of a claim filed by Vorcaro himself, lodged on November 28, 2025, five days before pulling the whole investigation to the STF. Days later he placed the case under maximum secrecy. In February, after the police pointed to possible connections between the justice and Vorcaro, Toffoli left the rapporteurship. CNN describes his departure as a removal over suspected involvement with the banker; Valor reports he stepped aside voluntarily. Mendonça was then drawn as the new rapporteur.
Fallout at the court
The partial release reignited tensions at the STF. On Friday (11), Justice Alexandre de Moraes sent a formal letter to the court's president, Edson Fachin, accusing Mendonça of a "selective choice" in lifting the secrecy. According to Moraes, only 15 proceedings were released in part, with 180 pieces and digital documents excluded. He asked for immediate full disclosure and a joint ruling on the two pending petitions. The review of Moraes's own situation is scheduled for Tuesday (15). Fachin is still defining the format of the trial.